"I LOVE this city." That is the message from the chef who described Brighton as not sophisticated enough for his food.

Douglas McMaster, of Silo, has spoken of his sadness over comments he made to a trade magazine in which he dismissed Brighton and Hove as not intelligent enough for top end restaurants.

But following an angry backlash from Argus readers the restaurateur said: “It breaks my heart that people think I don’t love Brighton.

“I think 64 Degrees is the best restaurant in Brighton. Mike (Bremner) has been so supportive of us.

“Stephen Edwards at Etch is such a nice guy. We are like a family, all the restaurants in the city.

“There is a sophistication growing in Brighton.

“The team at Silo were really horrified by this.

“I read some heartbreaking comments on The Argus website.

“Criticising what I have said is one thing but criticising Silo is not fair.

“A lot of these people haven’t even been to Silo.

“They were all slagging off the jam jars but we don’t even have jam jars any more.

“The reason for the jam jars was to keep costs down in the early days and to stop things going to waste.

“The roots of Silo are in Brighton and I hope to be here in 20 years from now.

“I love this town.

“My dad, who died last year, was born here and when I told him I was thinking of starting up in Brighton he said, ‘go for it’.

He urged diners who were critical to revisit Silo, promising that service had vastly improved since the restaurant’s opening and insisting that good food was more important than pretentious touches.

He said that despite hopes of opening a new restaurant in London, his business was still very much focused on the Upper Gardner Street premises.

Having opened in 2014 with the help of £40,000 from a crowdfunding campaign, he said Brighton and Hove was, in fact, one of the only places his concept could be so successful, because of the city’s accepting culture and strong support for ethical concepts, high levels of vegetarianism and a Green MP.

“Brighton is the best place for Silo,” he said.