The story
Le Doyenné serves modern cuisine at 5 rue Saint-Antoine in Saint-Vrain, 41 kilometres south of central Paris, and the Michelin Guide listed it as Recommended in 2026. It is a restaurant, guesthouse and working farm on the grounds of the Château de Saint-Vrain.
James Henry and Shaun Kelly, both Australian, cooked at Au Passage, Bones and Yard in Paris before opening here. The kitchen draws on a walled garden that lay dormant for 60 years until planting began in 2017. It is worked without tilling, using compost and mulch, and grows heirloom vegetables, herbs and fruit trees.
Le Fooding named Le Doyenné Best restaurant in 2023. Its reviewer ate smoked mackerel with pickled yellow tomatoes on focaccia, then Oléron oysters with chili pepper granita. Line-caught albacore came with pistou. The Bigorre pork chop, raised on the farm, arrived pink beside an onion cooked over the wood fire. Dessert was a hazelnut cookie with Gwell fermented milk, a rhubarb and peach leaf granita and pistachio ice cream.
The dining room fills the estate's former stables, where Niki de Saint Phalle and Tinguely made monumental works in the 1970s. Ciguë studio redesigned it with a glass ceiling, farm tables, a solid wood bar and vintage half-moon banquettes. Wide windows face the potager. The guesthouse has 11 rooms, so a meal can become a stay.
Recognition
Ambience
Details
History
Out in the countryside and against all odds, the brilliant Aussie chefs James Edward Henry and Shaun Kelly (who used to work at Au Passage , Bones and Yard in Paris) are finally reaping the fruits of several years of labor at the vegetable patches of the Le Doyenné farm. These days, in the heart of agriculture-heavy Essonne department, they pamper their phenomenal fruit and vegetable production under a monumental glass-ceilinged space, in what was previously Niki de Saint Phalle’s atelier – it has since been redesigned by Ciguë studio, centering around farm tables, a solid wood bar, and vintage half-moon banquette seating… The day we went for lunch, all of the following graced our plates: sliced raw, smoked mackerel with pickled yellow tomatoes served over plump focaccia, briny Oléron oysters with chili pepper granita and garden-fresh trumpet zucchini, carrot and cornichon masterfully dotted with fresh herbs, for the classy amuse-bouche; an exceptional medallion of raw, line-caught Albacore tuna with pistou, plus a veil of raw yellow zucchini; a umami-esque Bigorre pork chop raised on the Le Doyenné farm, served perfectly pink with plenty of jus , an onion cooked over the wood fire and berries; before an amaretto-style hazelnut cookie topped with Gwell fermented milk, plus a rhubarb and peach leaf granita, all of which was placed atop a bed of pistachio ice cream. In short, a restaurant where the grass is definitely greener! // James Patisson
Out in the countryside and against all odds, the brilliant Aussie chefs James Edward Henry and Shaun Kelly (who used to work at Au Passage , Bones and Yard in Paris) are finally reaping the fruits of several years of labor at the vegetable patches of the Le Doyenné farm. These days, in the heart of agriculture-heavy Essonne department, they pamper their phenomenal fruit and vegetable production under a monumental glass-ceilinged space, in what was previously Niki de Saint Phalle’s atelier – it has since been redesigned by Ciguë studio, centering around farm tables, a solid wood bar, and vintage half-moon banquette seating… The day we went for lunch, all of the following graced our plates: sliced raw, smoked mackerel with pickled yellow tomatoes served over plump focaccia, briny Oléron oysters with chili pepper granita and garden-fresh trumpet zucchini, carrot and cornichon masterfully dotted with fresh herbs, for the classy amuse-bouche; an exceptional medallion of raw, line-caught Albacore tuna with pistou, plus a veil of raw yellow zucchini; a umami-esque Bigorre pork chop raised on the Le Doyenné farm, served perfectly pink with plenty of jus , an onion cooked over the wood fire and berries; before an amaretto-style hazelnut cookie topped with Gwell fermented milk, plus a rhubarb and peach leaf granita, all of which was placed atop a bed of pistachio ice cream. In short, a restaurant where the grass is definitely greener! // James Patisson
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