Located just outside Strasbourg, Miro’s cuisine is quite inventive, but the service is clearly not as good as the food.

For this third dinner in Strasbourg, and after a Michelin-starred restaurant (Au Crocodile) and a traditional restaurant (Chez Yvonne) which fully met my expectations, I set my sights between the two with Miro. The Michelin guide has awarded it a “Bib Gourmand”, an accolade given to restaurants which, while not deserving a star, are on the right track and deserve to be singled out.

You’ll find all the articles about this trip to Strasbourg at the bottom of the page.

The concept

On its website, Miro describes itself as “more than a restaurant”. Certainly an allusion to FC Barcelona, the city from which the artist hails and which prides itself on being “Més que un Club” (more than a club). But don’t look for any Spanish or Catalan roots in this property, whose cuisine is inspired by its chef’s travels around the world.

The setting

Although the restaurant’s advertising systematically mentions “Miro Strasbourg”, certainly to be easily identifiable and linked to the city, it is in fact located in Ostwald, 5 kilometers away. Allow around 20 minutes by cab to get there.

Situated on the banks of a river, the restaurant offers a pleasant country setting.

On the other hand, I suspect that in summer those who eat on terraces must share their meals with mosquitoes.

The interior is more classic, if not plain.

The menu

It is creative and internationally inspired.

A more complete and detailed version is available on the restaurant’s website.

The meal

I arrived in the early evening and was immediately seduced by the bucolic setting, even though I was eating inside. I’m warmly welcomed and seated at my table.

They bring me the menu and a cold oshibori, which I appreciate. I’ll choose the tasting menu, which is a blind tasting: you discover the dishes as they arrive, and they’re not automatically dishes from the menu. On the other hand, they don’t give you a written menu at the end of the meal, which I find regrettable. You have to memorize everything as you go along, which is all the more difficult as the waitress’s articulation can be very awkward, making the names of dishes and ingredients sometimes incomprehensible.

For the aperitif, I’ll pick from the property’s cocktail menu…

I’ll have the Yuzu margarita.

Good, but it doesn’t break the bank.

To accompany the aperitif, I’m brought a mushroom tartelette and a morbier gougère.

Very good.

Then comes an amuse bouche: fried tofu and seaweed powder.

Creamy, light, a little smoky…very good.

The next course takes a long time to arrive and the head waiter’s comings and goings get on my nerves. He spends his time crossing the room with a very heavy step, taking great pleasure in slamming his soles on the floor…I feel like I’m watching a military parade and I can hear him coming from the other end of the restaurant. Unbearable!

The dish finally arrived: salmon tataki, mezcal sauce, guacamole, I didn’t understand the rest, which was inaudible.

It’s fresh and tasty, I really appreciate it.

The next course also takes forever to arrive. It’s a poached egg with crispy white asparagus.

In fact, it’s breaded asparagus. Another light and tasty dish.

And so there’s a long wait before the next course arrives. The service really lacks pace when compared with similar properties.

It’ll be an octopus cooked in a brazier, spaghetti, black garlic… I don’t understand, the waitress barely articulates. I realized it was octopus when I ate it…

I also think there’s some coriander…

Here again, a dish that’s full of flavour! I really appreciate it. The cooking is perfect and there are lots of different flavors that come together perfectly. The cold spaghetti is also quite original.

The next course arrives…after a long wait. The food is very good, but I’ve never been so bored in a restaurant ( to avoid using blunt words).

It’s a rack of lamb on chickpea falafels...I didn’t understand the rest of the name of the dish.

Once again, very good! The meat is perfectly cooked, the falafel is light and the vegetables very tasty.

I am then brought a cold-brewed mate with a reduction of fruit juice and lemongrass.

It is sweet, unlike traditional mate, which is bitter. It won’t leave me with an indelible memory.

Another long wait followed before the pre-dessert was brought to me.

St Maure de Touraine flambéed with a torch.

I’m beginning to think that not being able to articulate is a recruitment criterion. Anyway, the combination of cheese and fruit is a great success.

We’ll have to wait a little longer before dessert arrives: wasabi ice cream, dark chocolate ganache, cocoa crumble. At this point I’m so fed up and in such a hurry to get it over with that I’ll forget to take a photo.

It was fresh and good.

All in all, a very good meal marred by service that wasn’t up to scratch.

The service

As I was writing this article, the sound of the head waiter’s heavy gait and footsteps immediately popped into my head. You’d think he wanted the whole room to hear him coming, or that he thought he was at a military parade…. Anecdotal at first, but unbearable by the end.

As for the slow service….I can’t remember being that bored during a meal for a long time.

And finally, I think it’s a shame that a summary of the dinner is not given at the end of the meal, especially as the 2 waiters and waitresses at my table articulated so badly that I had trouble understanding the names of half the dishes.

Bottom line

I don’t know if Miro will ever get a star, but he’s on the right track when it comes to food. As for the service, it’s hardly worthy of a neighborhood pizzeria.

The articles about this weekend in Strasbourg

#	Type	Post
1	Diary	Planning a weekend in Strasbourg
2	Train	Paris-Strasbourg – Deutsche Bahn ICE – First Class
3	Hotel	Maison Rouge, Strasbourg
4	Restaurant	Au Crocodile, Strasbourg
5	Restaurant	Chez Yvonne, Strasbourg
6	Restaurant	Miro, Ostwald (Strasbourg)
7	Diary	Tour of Strasbourg
8	Diary	Tour of Colmar
9	Train	Strasbourg-Paris – Deutsche Bahn ICE – First Class ( without interest, no review)
10	Diary	Debrief of the weekend in Strasbourg