While Silo remains closed (for now), the world’s first zero-waste restaurant has launched a bar serving minimal intervention wines from small producers. Olivia Palamountain reports

Silo pioneered the trend for zero-waste dining from its original site in Brighton back in 2014, spearheading a movement that now includes the likes of Fallow, Cub, Native and Ugly Butterfly.

Now based at the White Building in London’s Hackney Wick, Silo continues to champion natural food used in its entirety, cutting out food miles and over-processing whilst preserving nutrients and the integrity of ingredients. Even the restaurant furniture and fittings have been upcycled.

While the restaurant remains closed until the end of the year in the wake of Covid-19, chef and founder Douglas McMaster has reconfigured the space to launch an all-new zero-waste menu and drinks offering as Silo x Wine Bar. Silo zero-waste wine barOpen in the evening from Thursday to Saturday and for lunch Saturday and Sunday, Silo x Wine Bar will continue to showcase suppliers and products that reflect Douglas’ commitment to zero-waste and closed-loop practices.

Douglas McMaster says: “I’m delighted to be reopening Silo this month [August]. Silo x Wine Bar is the perfect way for us to invite back guests and regulars and will help us to segue towards reopening the restaurant towards the end of the year and giving guests the full Silo experience as soon as we can.”  

The new menu starts with small plates and snacks such as “siloaf” and aged butter; koji quavers and dip and a soy egg with lava salt.

Also available are more substantial dishes including the “Hot 4 u” spring onion pancake; preserved tomato, fig leaf, cottage cheese; grilled cuttlefish kebab with umami dipping sauce; green pea naan with roasted tomato dip; grilled flatbread with smoked aubergine and Silo’s smoked pork bun.Bar snack at SiloThe bar will showcase minimum intervention wines from small, artisanal producers such as Sussex-based wine producer, Ben Walgate of Tillingham Wines and legendary wine masters Gut Oggau from Burgenland, Austria. 

Crate Brewery will supply beers and a new cocktail list has been created by Ryan Chetiyawardana (of low-waste restaurant Cub, which sadly closed during the pandemic), who draws heavily on alcohol from Copenhagen grain-to-bottle distillery Empirical Spirits

All products delivered to Silo come in re-useable crates, pails, urns or containers. Silo moved from Brighton to London in November 2019, to join Crate in their Hackney Wick home, The White Building.

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