This three-toque restaurant serves a game menu… from under the sea!
What if fall game were actually to be found at the bottom of the Mediterranean? At L’Oursin, chef Ilane Tinchant puts a new spin on the great classics of game cuisine to create a menu entirely dedicated to seafood.
In the fall, the great classics of game cuisine make a comeback on gourmet tables. Hare à la royale, pithiviers, and other game dishes inspire chefs, but at L’Oursin (3 toques) in Carry-le-Rouet, Ilane Tinchant has chosen to take a different approach from tradition. Together with his sous-chef, Elio Benedetto, he offers “Chasse sous-marine” (Underwater Hunt), a menu conceived as a mirror image between the conventions of game cuisine and the marine world.
The concept is simple on the surface: retain the techniques and signature structures of game dishes, but replace forest animals with fish, shellfish, and other seafood. It’s a way for the chef to stay true to L’Oursin’s Mediterranean identity while venturing into uncharted territory. “Elio and I were really eager to create a game-themed menu this fall. But at L’Oursin, our playground is the sea. So we took the classic game cooking techniques, the royale, the pithiviers, and went looking for them underwater. It’s a demanding stylistic exercise that forces us to rethink every step,” says Ilane Tinchant.
From Pithiviers to Octopus à la Royale
Presented on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, the five-course menu (€220) deliberately plays with unexpected pairings. On the menu: mallard and smoked eel in a pithiviers, glazed red mullet with wild forest mushrooms, octopus à la royale, rabbit and gambas chimera, followed by a final pairing of chocolate and caviar.
The centerpiece of the evening will undoubtedly be the octopus à la royale. In a direct nod to the famous hare à la royale, the chef adapts the dish’s technique while applying it to seafood. The octopus is oven-roasted, while its head and trimmings are used to make a stuffing that fills the tentacles arranged around a foie gras center. The whole dish is then shaped into a ballottine and cooked slowly at a low temperature. The nod to game continues in the sauce: a reduction from octopus stew and a braising liquid are thickened with blood and chocolate, just as in the traditional “à la royale” recipe. Finally, a caviar pearl adds a touch of the sea to this interpretation.
While the “Chasse sous-marine” menu will be offered exclusively for dinner on October 14, the octopus à la royale will not disappear once the evening is over. Created for the occasion, the dish will stay on the menu, upon request, until December 6, 2026.
