Le Doyenné

In the grounds of the château de Saint-Vrain south of Paris, discover the restaurant Le Doyenné hidden away in the estate’s former stables, today completely renovated.

Le Doyenné: a journey through history!

Among others, the estate was the residence of the Countess of Barry, the Borghese family and the Mortemart family for two centuries. In the 1970s, the estate’s former stables were taken over by the Franco-American artist Niki de Saint Phalle and the sculptor Tinguely, who created some of their monumental works there. The name Doyenné comes from the time of the Borghese family, in reference to the famous Doyenné du Comice, a variety of pears grown in the estate's orchard.

The Doyenné de Saint-Vrain is first and foremost a gastronomic and agricultural project which started life in the Paris Region, the fruit of the imaginations of two Australian chefs, James Henry and Shaun Kelly, who left their respective Parisian restaurants to convert the historic outbuildings of the Doyenné into a restaurant and bed and breakfast establishment, based around a gigantic vegetable garden.

A vegetable based cuisine

The vegetable garden is a central aspect of the restaurant and of the philosophy of these two great chefs. Combining cooking and nature, the old cultivated varieties are a key feature of their cuisine and respect the rhythm of the seasons.

Every morning, the team selects the best vegetables of the moment, picked at their prime and accompanied by some of the best products of France, from game to poultry, and from dairy products to seafood.
Share a friendly moment together around a large table, or with your partner on a lovely round table near the large windows overlooking the vegetable garden and the surrounding natural environment. During the peak summer season, the menu is mainly centred around fruit and vegetables. In autumn, game and mushrooms accompany the seasonal varieties. And in mid-winter, when the vegetable garden is at rest, the menu gives way to the fish and seafood of the North-East Atlantic, which are then at their best.

The superb selection of wines also matches the chefs’ philosophy, and showcases the work of the vin-vivant winegrowers, limiting the use of herbicides and pesticides, while keeping inputs to a minimum.