Founder and Head Chef Douglas McMaster opening Silo’s door

Light the fireworks and pop the champagne: Of Slender Means returns. The inspiration that broke my six-month social media hiatus? Lunch at Silo – Brighton’s newest and hottest lunch spot.

Apart from a visit to a raw food cafe in San Francisco (the place of dreams) in 2009, I am not sure I have ever left a restaurant feeling so wonderfully light and so resoundingly happy to have spent my money there. In both concept and execution, Silo – which describes its food as “pre-industrial” and itself as the first zero-waste restaurant – is a dining miracle. The simplicity, sustainability, and creativity permeating its ethos are so close to the ambitions of this blog (though Silo founder and head chef Douglas McMaster – former BBC Young Chef of the Year, with St John and Noma on his CV – admittedly has the upper hand in culinary talents and compost systems … ) I felt the restaurant had almost been created for me. Just reading the menu on Silo’s website had my mouth watering – freshly caught fish, fermented brown rice risotto, beetroot juice, seaweed salsa …

Fish Dish at Silo – XDB Photography

And then we were there – my two friends, my friend’s 11-month baby, my four-and-a-half-year-old daughter  and I – all hungrily sniffing the warm fragrant air. We ordered (a lot): the meat, the fish, the vegetables, the salad, the freshly-pressed pink lemonade. Oh, the treats in store: each and every dish tasted scrumptiously delicious to wholefood fanatics and wholefood sceptics alike. The meat (unusual cuts from top to tail – à la St John in London) was tender and plentiful (so I was told). The fish (sustainably caught by a scheme called “Catch-box” which lets whichever fish around in the sea that day swim into their box) was perfectly textured and delicately flavoured. The risotto (made with Silo’s homemade curd) was warmingly hearty and far tastier than any sticky white risotto you’ve ever had the bad luck to try. The accoutrements, in their simplicity, were better yet – sourdough bread from flour milled on the premises; the tangy raw milk butter, too.

We were a noisy bunch, between squeals of delight at the pink lemonade and various beakers sent crashing to the floor, but no-one, not even the many business lunchers talking about Important Things, seemed to mind. Staff were entirely friendly, set on explaining to us the ideas behind what we were about to enjoy, in a welcomingly brief and unpretentious way. I was cheered by the thought that no more fish than necessary had been caught to put just one on my plate. I was equally cheered that the few remaining bits of cauliflower (rejected by the children – they will learn in due course) were heading to the compost heap, to be used later to grow still more delicious food.

This business must have taken a lot of thinking and investment. There is risk in it too, because only a few people think like it does about food. Ox’s cheeks, curd and parsnips are not as familiar as pumped-up chicken breasts and watery, over-sized red peppers, after all. But in this instance, the proof really is in the pudding and every other dish Silo serves; its genuine intention is the very essence of what makes the food so imaginative and delicious.

While we waited for our table (only five minutes in the middle of the busy period), we happened to sit beside co-owner David Wicks (well, that was our assumption from what he said). He wanted to know what had brought us here. I talked about the Guardian review and how I loved the idea of using and re-using everything available and not making a mess of anything else as you go along. Just as we got up to go to our table, he suggested Silo’s next destination may be Berlin. Yes, yes, please!

Silo Restaurant – Devlin Photos