The venture was founded in Brighton eleven years ago by Douglas McMaster and moved in to The White Building in November 2019 following a £1 million Crowdfunder campaign.
Famously “the restaurant without a bin” it housed a fermentation factory making koji – an ancient preparation behind the umami flavours found in miso and fish sauce – and a mill turning ancient grains of wheat into flour.
They also churned their own butter, rolled their own oats, and took delivery of items in returnable vessels such as crates, pails and urns.
McMaster wrote a book on his food philosophy, the Zero Waste Blue Print, launched his online Zero Waste Cookery School during the pandemic, and won a Michelin Guide Green Bib award for sustainability in 2021.
Announcing the closure on Instagram he wrote: “Silo is not just a restaurant. It’s an idea, an artwork, a zero-waste blueprint.
“For over 11 years, Silo has been a living system — proof that circular thinking can survive in the heart of capitalism, even if it’s like watching a fish trying to climb a tree. In a world divorced from nature, we’ve tried to rebuild that relationship — not with words, but with action.
“But exhibitions don’t last forever. Silo was never meant to be static. It was meant to provoke, to inspire change. What happened on the plate was importantly – however it’s what happened off that plate that really mattered. The ideas, systems, and communities that refuse to disappear.”
Citing projects in Mexico and Bali he said the next chapter in “shaping the future of food” would include a Silo World Tour bringing his philosophy to new cities via a series of collaborations and pop-ups.
The restaurant is now taking bookings for its final weeks and will continue to sourced produce from regenerative farmers, creating everything on the menu from ingredients in their whole form – cutting out food miles and processing.
It’s a tasting menu only, and includes Flourish kale with citrus kosho and sinodun; Scallops with blue moon and celeriac; Woodcock pigeon with pine and buttermilk; and Wild mushrooms with red and yellow mole.
Silo is at First floor Unit 7 Queens Yard, White Post Lane, E9. wwwsilolondon.com
