FIELD OF DREAMS

Two Australian chefs take on rural France first with their farm, then their table at new auberge Le Doyenné

- SUE GOUGH HENLY

Forty-five kilometres south of Paris, where the City of Light meets the historic farmland and forest of the Île de France, the walled estate of an 18th century château in the village of Saint-Vrain is a hive of activity. For the past five years, Australian chefs James Henry and Shaun Kelly have been building an expansive kitchen garden as a homage, of sorts, to the historic market gardens that once fringed the French capital, supplying its residents with fresh vegetables.

After catching the attention of le tout Paris with their free-form, produce-driven, nose-to-tail cuisine at neo-bistros Au Passage and Bones, the two friends (who met in 2008 while working at Andrew McConnell's Cumulus Inc) began hatching the idea of creating their own farmhouse restaurant.

In collaboration with their London-based French partner who is also the château's owner, they're putting the finishing touches on Le Doyenné, an auberge fashioned from the estate's barn and stables. Inside is a 40-seat restaurant and 11-room country inn.

"It will be a relaxed but grown-up place offering a tasting menu of the best micro-seasonal ingredients from their garden as well as artisanal products from French fishermen, cheesemakers, and vignerons," says Henry.

"We have rare-breed chickens and pigs in addition to heirloom vegetables and fruit trees," adds Kelly, who's happily hung up his chef's hat to take on the role of master gardener.

Neither Henry nor Kelly see themselves as Australians taking on the French at their own game. "It's not a competitive sport," says Henry.