Nature’s Premiere
Laurent Lemal:
About the Chef
Laurent Lemal’s cuisine carries the intelligence of a chef who has travelled through classical French discipline, competition pressure, and the deeper work of finding his own language.
Born in Douai in 1979, he built his career through several French kitchens, including Hôtel du Parc in Neufchâtel-Hardelot, Le Pont Napoléon in Moissac with Michel Dussau, and Alain Ducasse’s Abbaye de La Celle in the Var, where he worked alongside Benoît Witz.
In 2015, Lemal won the Bocuse d’Or France. In 2017, he represented France at the Bocuse d’Or world final, where he received the award for Best Vegetable Dish — a distinction that still feels central to understanding his cuisine.
Since 2020, Lemal has led La Balette at Hôtel Relais des 3 Mas in Collioure, bringing together technical precision, Mediterranean immediacy, and the expressive force of the French Catalan coastline.
Spring Note
“Catalan cuisine celebrates the intimate bond between land, sea, and fire, with the sincerity of produce and the strength of a territory.”
Laurent Lemal · La Balette
About the Restaurant
There are restaurants where the view is beautiful, and there are restaurants where the landscape becomes part of the cuisine. La Balette belongs to the second kind.
Set within Hôtel Relais des 3 Mas in Collioure, above the Mediterranean and the harbour of the Côte Vermeille, La Balette occupies one of those rare coastal positions where light, salt, stone, and sea arrive before the first plate.
But La Balette is not simply a restaurant with a view. It is a restaurant with a territory. Its philosophy speaks of a contemporary terroir shaped by local producers, fishermen, winemakers, and artisans, transformed through modern technique and an artistic sensibility that remains rooted in place.
Here, the Mediterranean is not decorative. It is a discipline. The region is not used as background. It becomes the language of the table.
Spring Inspiration
At La Balette, spring is not pastel, polite, or decorative. It is alive.
It arrives through the snap of radish over Mediterranean seabream, the green lift of nasturtium, the bitterness of herbs, the sweetness of kumquat, the depth of rancio, the smoke of béchamel, the acidity of Banyuls vinegar, and the saline memory of mussels, anchovies, oysters, bottarga, and amberjack.
The menu moves between two forces: the sea and the land. The Catalan references are a reflection of place — Collioure, the Côte Vermeille, the Pyrénées-Orientales — a French Mediterranean territory where Catalan culinary memory meets French gastronomic discipline.
In Lemal’s hands, that memory is not reproduced nostalgically. It is refined. A cargolade becomes a contemporary bite from the grill. Mouclade is reworked with brown beer, curry, lime, Pursha lemon, wild sorrel, fennel, and bottarga. Sériole from the Mediterranean is cured and dried like ham, then set over chirashi-style rice with caviar and sorrel sorbet.
La Balette, Collioure, France
Experience Spring at La Balette
La Balette · Hôtel Relais des 3 Mas · Collioure · France
Reserve your Table at La Balette
Spring Menu Gallery
A visual journey through Laurent Lemal’s Spring Collection 2026 at La Balette.
View the Spring Menu 2026 — La Balette
Spring Menu 2026 · Laurent Lemal · La Balette
Spring Aperitifs
Chickpea Crisp
Sesame · coriander
Anchovy
Cacao · samphire
Poached Mussel
Rancio
Herb Cream Tartlet
Marigold
Contemporary Cargolade
A grilled expression of Catalan memory.
Tarama Tartlet
Trout roe
Starters
Mediterranean Seabream — Crisp Radish, Nasturtium
Seabream marinated with salt and citrus, delicately covered with a rosette of crisp radish, lifted by smoked pepper gel and finished with green nasturtium jus.
Asparagus — Kumquat, Comté, Marigold
Roasted green asparagus, delicately covered with a fine slice of Comté, punctuated by kumquat pickles and lifted by a light marigold foam.
Spring Mouclade — Brown Beer, Curry
Large mussels gently poached, then marinated with lime and curry. Their cooking juices are enriched with a brown beer reduction and lightly set into a veil that wraps the mussels, before being finished with Pursha lemon vinaigrette, wild sorrel, fennel, and bottarga.
Stuffed Morels — Meyer Lemon, Creamy Jus, Marigold
Morels seared with rancio, delicately stuffed, then glazed with reduced poultry jus. They are served with marigold leaves, Meyer lemon gel, and a creamy sauce poulette.
Oyster 00 — Watercress, Peas, Kabossu
A gently poached oyster with watercress velouté, pea purée, kabossu preserved in whisky vinegar, maertensia shoots, and rye bread croutons.
Spring Snacks
Olette Mushroom
Burrata · orange blossom
Roast Chicken Finger
Aïoli
Catalan-Style Rice
Tomato Cloud
Parmesan · strawberries
Main Courses
Mediterranean Amberjack, Aged Like Ham — Caviar, Sorrel
Mediterranean amberjack cured with salt, then dried in the style of ham. It is served over chirashi-style rice with caviar, a delicate sauce, and sorrel sorbet.
Toulouges Onion
The prince of spring expressed through textures: mousse-like with a light cereal note, glazed, crisp, delicately smoked, and lifted with Banyuls vinegar pickles.
Early Aubergines — Smoked Béchamel, Riviera Jus
Early aubergines delicately cooked in a rice vinegar and Thai basil pickle. They rest on smoked béchamel, with puffed amaranth and basil flowers, and are finished with Riviera olive jus.
Wagyu Cecina — Pickles, Rhubarb
Wagyu cecina served on a warm plate with smoked crème fraîche gel, white cherry shavings, rhubarb both fresh and pickled, young carrots, and spring herbs.
Desserts
Mille-Fleurs Meringue
A crisp meringue dome filled with elderflower cream and marigold petal confit with kalamansi. Served with acacia flower sorbet and delicately decorated with marigold flowers.
Strawberries in Textures — Elderflower, Vanilla
Strawberries presented fresh, dried, confit, and as juice, finished with light elderflower meringue and half-salted vanilla ice cream with vergeoise.
The Gardener’s Dessert
A composition of carrot, parsley, and sweet pickled radish, with parsley sorbet, bergamot-leaf yogurt emulsion, red-veined sorrel, and crystallised parsley.
For Selective Partners
Nature’s Premiere remains open to a limited number of brands whose products genuinely belong inside Michelin-level spring storytelling — tableware, luxury ingredients, beverage houses, and hospitality suppliers positioned through editorial relevance rather than conventional advertising.