[Bordeaux, France] Miles, a creative little gem not to be ignored

Regional Dining Discussions France
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It was my second visit to this small and wonderful restaurant in Bordeaux. First time the experience was good, but since we were travelling with our cat :smile_cat: (in bag), needed to bring him out for a walk from time to time on the street, I only had a faint appreciation of the meal. This time we had our meal without distraction. The owners are 2 couples, 4 young chefs with cosmopolitan background: the Israeli Gil Elad, the Japanese Ayako Ota, the New Caledonian Laura Eyrin, and the Franco-Vietnamese Arnaud Lahaut. They met at Ferrandi cooking school in Paris. They parted their ways, worked in some great restaurants: Arpège, Astrance, Atelier de Robuchon, Chateaubriand. Years later, they reunited together and opened MILES.

We reserved our lunch 2 days before. We arrived at the restaurant at 1pm, the restaurant has an open kitchen, a long curvy counter bar seats and several tables around, there is around 30 seatings, not a big restaurant, but pretty warm with a interior mainly decorated with wood. There is basically 2 menus, both tasting, one with 3 courses, the other with one with 4 plates, and/or with matching wines. We have chosen the 4 courses.

There comes the amuse bouche:
Mashed butternut and lemongrass, coconut, cod eggs and mousse - it was very light, tasty enough to start off our meal and we liked the hint of lemon taste.

The entry is Egg yolk confit, onion sauce, grilled Jerusalem artichoke and mash, coffee, nuts and cèpes mushrooms condiment, with herb mouron des oiseaux - Very good, loved the coffee/nuts and mushroom spice adding to the tenderness of the undercooked egg, interesting combination of ingredients. My favorite dish.

First main is the fish course: Cod fish, with seaweed nori, apple, beetroot. Fish well cooked, crispy skin, a nice balance between the green apple and the sweet beetroot.

Second main is a meat course: Veal with smoked leek, oats, mashed date, iranian lemon with mint and coriander herbs. I like especially the slight smoky taste that adds a touch to the dish, it wasn’t overwhelming at all, there is obviously an oriental influence in this dish.

The dessert is Peanut ice-cream with dark chocolate cookie, salty caramel butter.

A highly creative combination of ingredients and artistic work. Honestly I think the restaurant has a lot of potential and will becoming something big. Especially if you know the 4 course tasting menu is 29€ per person (3 course 24€, and dinner 5 courses 35€). If you happen to be in Bordeaux, don’t think, RUN TO IT.

(Actually I was hesitating to write this review, it’s still relatively new that you don’t want the tourists to invade like other places La Tupina).

Miles Restaurant
33 Rue du Cancera
33000 Bordeaux
France
Reservation: +33 (0)5 56 81 18 24

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Beautiful report. Sad that we aren’t heading to Bordeaux soon. And, yes, I deeply share your worry about ruining special little rooms, but perhaps that is the joy and advantage of HO. We are small and we are discriminating. I’d not worry about sitting next to any Onion.

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Thanks for the report. 29 euro for five wonderful dishes is a great deal. How long has the place been open? (Perhaps raising price once they got a good reputation?)

How’s the Iranian lemon different from more common lemon?

And yes I’d agree with Pilgrim, its not like we have a million users here…!

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Very good bargain indeed. (For the price now, it’s 24€ for 3 courses, 29€ for 4, and dinner 35€ for 5.) Actually if you check some older reviews, the price has raised, used to be 4 courses meal 24€ a while ago. :wink: I’m too used to the price in Paris, in 1 a star restaurant in Bordeaux, you can have a set lunch for 29€! (price summer 2015)

Miles got a good reputation already . I think they were opened since 2013. In the recent large scale food event in Bordeaux So Good (where Joël Robuchon and Michael Guérard were present), the Miles chefs were doing demonstration and workshops.

http://www.bordeauxsogood.fr

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Well, next year the TGV Paris - Bordeaux will be shortened to 2 hours traveling time. There will be certainly an influx of Parisiens in Bordeaux especially in summer.

For a long time, inside the Bordeaux city, you can find several places with fine traditional south western French cooking, but not a lot of innovative cuisine. They are always situated outside Bordeaux, in Saint Émilion or in the nearby Arcahcon.

The recent openings included the famous (French TOP CHEF judge, Kitchen Nightmares TV) Philippe Etchebest’s Brasserie Le Quatrième Mur in the prestigious opera house Grande Théâtre. Gordon Ramsay (the UK Kitchen Nightmares) is opening in the hotel just facing. Are they trying to challenge each other in real life?! Robuchon and Ducasse arrived some 2 years ago and busily trying to grab the stars as quickly as possible.

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A small member base doesn’t mean that non-members cannot read. :grin:

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Darn lurkers!

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Restaurants / bistros reported on NYT will become a tourist trap. It’s a dilemma to be acknowledged and be cursed (Locals don’t like tourist place that much.)

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Been there in December. It worths a visit. At least free yourself for 3-4 hours if you really want to see/watch/smell everything and have the time to taste the wine relaxingly. We were told that 2.5 hours was enough, but by the end of 2 hours, we had only finished first floor. We rushed through the second floor and the wine tasting in 45 minutes, too rush for us.

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