L'Oursin in Le Lavandou – a new star above the Aiguebelle rocks

At Hôtel Les Roches, rebuilt on the rocks of Aiguebelle where Thomas Mann and Françoise Sagan once stayed, Antoine Gras and Benoît Gornard won a MICHELIN star in 2026 for sauce-led Mediterranean cooking.

Aiguebelle, just east of the old fishing port of Le Lavandou, is where the Corniche des Maures meets the sea in small rocky coves. In the 1930s a hotel called Les Roches Fleuries stood on these rocks and became the summer address of a cultivated crowd: Thomas Mann took refuge there with his family in 1933, and Françoise Sagan adopted it when Bonjour Tristesse was filmed in Le Lavandou in 1957. Rebuilt as the five-star Hôtel Les Roches, it now has a restaurant to match its past: L'Oursin was one of the new one-star restaurants in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide.

This is what to expect: the hotel and the dining room, the chefs and their menus, the season and what to know before you book.

01A ship moored on the rocks

The architect Jean-Baptiste Pietri redrew the hotel as a ship moored in the bay, in stone from Bormes, with 40 rooms and suites just above the water, a spa called L'Oiseau Bleu and a collection of contemporary art by names such as Michelangelo Pistoletto and Ma Desheng. The MICHELIN inspectors note the view, which runs from Cap Nègre to the Îles du Levant.

L'Oursin sits by the water like the upper deck of a boat, and its dining room is decorated with murals by the Japanese artist Maki Ohkojima. The hotel's second restaurant, La Langouste sur le Toit, serves spiny lobster to share on the rooftop each evening.

02Antoine Gras, Benoît Gornard and Magali Delalex

Antoine Gras previously held a MICHELIN star at La Table de l'Ours in Val d'Isère; at L'Oursin he cooks with Benoît Gornard, and desserts are by the pastry chef Andy Cassagne. The hotel says the chef pays particular attention to sauces, which he uses to bring out the produce. The wine list is the work of Magali Delalex, named sommelier of the year by the MICHELIN Guide in 2024.

Insider tip

Seasonal: reopens on 5 May 2027. Bistro lunch, gastronomic dinner.

The inspectors describe simple, product-led cooking – a fine ingredient, a sauce, a garnish – rooted in the area, with fish from a Le Lavandou fisherman and herbs and vegetables from the hotel's own garden. They single out Tamaris oysters steamed in a wrap of seaweed and spinach with a caviar beurre blanc, and line-caught sea bass on a vegetable ragout scented with pistou.

03The carte and Face au Levant

The dinner menu dated 16 September 2026 offers starters at €42–58, among them oysters with artichoke and bacon, and lobster with tomato and marjoram; main courses at €69–74, such as the line-caught sea bass with courgettes and pistou ragout, John Dory with pine-forest morels, girolles and fresh almonds, or red mullet with saffron potato and rouille; cheeses from Sandra Bianchi at €20; and desserts at €24, including a limoncello soufflé.

The tasting menu, Face au Levant, costs €180 for seven courses, from lobster and aubergine to John Dory, red mullet, goat's cheese with rosemary and olives, lemon with seaweed and a chocolate dessert; the wine pairing, called On dirait le Sud, costs €105. At lunch, the restaurant switches to the Déjeuner des Roches, a simpler bistro menu with starters from €30 and grilled fish sold by weight.

04Season and booking

Hôtel Les Roches is seasonal: it closed on 4 October 2026 and reopens on 5 May 2027. In season, L'Oursin serves the bistro lunch and the gastronomic dinner; exact hours are not published. Tables can be booked online through the hotel's website or by telephone on +33 4 83 69 33 50. The restaurant is air-conditioned and accessible to wheelchair users.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.