THE NEW RESTAURANT ARCHETYPE: Innovative kitchens

Our pick of resourceful chefs redirecting the supply chain

THE UK’S ONLY TRULY ZERO-WASTE RESTAURANT

SILO LONDON

Douglas McMaster isn’t just on a mission to reduce waste in his kitchen—he wants to get rid of it entirely. Originally founded in Brighton in 2014, Silo is his so-called ‘restaurant without a bin’. The project, which has since relocated to London’s Hackney Wick, is a complete ecosystem: McMaster buys goods package-free from local farmers and uses the on-site aerobic digester to compost any leftovers (it can create up to 60kgs in just 24 hours). The set menu changes daily and, despite the impressive eco-credentials, the plates are lavish and creative. Supper starts with the signature Siloaf, using flour milled on site, and a slab of raw butter. That isn’t the last you’ll see of the bread: the sourdough may be reincarnated, for example, as a rich miso sauce paired with sweet golden beetroot and salty ricotta. Other delicious pairings include Jerusalem artichokes with Stichelton blue-cheese sauce and treacle made from vegetable peelings; pink-fir potatoes with caramelised whey (an umami taste revelation); and tart sea-buckthorn snow with crème fraîche. It’s not only the food that’s sustainable, of course. The biodynamic wine list leans into producers that do refills; any bottles that can’t be reused are turned into ceramic glass for light fittings in the restaurant. Even the plates are recycled—you’d never know you were eating off old plastic bags. McMaster was ahead of his time in 2014 but is still the only chef in the UK cooking with no waste at all. SONYA BARBER silolondon.com

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