Life With James Edward Henry
Life With James Edward Henry
One hour’s drive south of Paris, at the frontier of suburbs and agriculture, there’s a place called Le Doyenné. Now, what is Le Doyenné? Well, it’s a restaurant, a guesthouse and farm in one, but that’s just the mere facts. It’s more than that: It’s a dreamy vision of food and general well-being. Or, as James Edward Henry, the chef and co-owner of the place, puts it: “an oasis of calm.” At the farm, they produce lots of stuff themselves, they even have a pack of pigs, but they also take advantage of the fact that they’re based in the produce heaven that goes by the name of France. Fish from Britanny, citruses from the south, ducks from Pay Basque. Yeah, we get hungry, too. Here, we talk to James about his way into cooking, Australian cuisine (he’s Aussie), his resemblance of Gareth Bale, and tennis, which he plays on a court that sits in an alley of peach trees and pear trees.
Text by Oliver Bodh Larsen, Photos by Julia Velázquez Charro
James wears Another Shirt 3.0, Light Blue Stripe (see more) & Another Pants 5.1 JPN, Daku Beju (see more).
Why did you become a chef?
It wasn’t so much a conscious decision I took. But I always loved to eat, and I was drawn to eating well and I took a lot of pleasure it. Also, my parents made efforts to make sure we ate well. They had a lot of cookbooks in the home, and at some point, I think I’d read all the regular books in the house and moved on to the cookbooks.
While I was at university, I was working as a dishwasher. That’s the first time I was exposed to a professional kitchen and there was something about the energy, the approach to work. I mean, maybe it sounds a little cliché, but there was this edge to it, like stepping into a pirate ship. It felt attractive. You had these young people who were putting so much energy and air into creating something they were really passionate about.
At that time, it seemed like there wasn’t a lot of professions where you saw people at that age who were so invested in what they were doing, who cared so much and were willing to work so hard, even with so little financial compensation. So, my curiosity sort of pulled me into it. Eventually one of the chefs convinced me that I should try and give cooking a go.
What was your favourite thing to eat growing up?
Aw, that’s a tough one. It’s like my least favourite question haha. Or what’s my favourite thing to eat? What’s my favourite restaurant?
Well, we’ll get to that later!
Great, all my least favourite questions haha!
James wears Another Polo Shirt 4.0, Burnt Brown (see more) & Another Jeans 3.0, Brown (see more).
No, but the reason why I ask is that I can’t come to think of what Australian cuisine actually is.
Well, that’s the interesting point. It’s very much tied to your family heritage, where your parents are from, the community you grew up in etc, because it’s a young country. Well, it’s an old country, but the European colonization is relatively young compared to other places. You have communities which are like heavily Italian or heavily Greek or Lebanese or Vietnamese. We travelled quite a lot when I was younger. I was born in Australia, but we moved to Paris when I was one. And then from Paris I moved to Saudi Arabia and then from Saudi Arabia we went to San Francisco. My father’s sisters were really into food, and my dad would cook a lot of Southeast Asian food at home. And it wasn’t uncommon for us to have something like ossobuco with risotto milanese.
In Denmark, sometimes we have these votings about our national dish. It’s a pretty weird phenomenon. But if Australians were to vote for a national dish, what would win?
That’s the thing. The common thing would be something like meat pies or sausage rolls. These very democratic things you buy from a bakery or a service station. It’s cheap and everyone’s exposed to them. It’s what they serve in the school canteens. But also, every Australian goes out for Chinese food once a week and you have stuff like salt and pepper calamari or, you know, san choy bow. Things adopted from different countries that feel distinctly Australian as well.
James, seeing as I’m obviously a very thorough interviewer, I always do a deep dive on people’s Instagram.
So you’re gonna ask me about my ex-wife?
Exactly! How’s she doing?
Haha.
No, I noticed a couple of books, some heavy literature. I saw some Dostoyevsky, some Hemingway. Are you a big reader?
I like to read. And I was a big reader. The literature of Alice Waters, Richard Olney or even Elizabeth David, how they write about food was really evocative for me. But if I’m going to be totally honest with you, it’s something that I, between becoming a father and running a business and subscribing to too many streaming platforms, tend to neglect. But I always have a book or two on the go. I just started a new James Baldwin novel, ‘Go Tell It on the Mountain’, and funnily enough his partner was Richard Olney, the amazing food writer.
Something totally else. How often do you get told you look like Gareth Bale?
You know what? Enough so that I had to figure out who that was ‘cause I’m not a football fan haha.
He’s a good looking guy though!
And he’s an avid tennis player, too, I’ve learned.
Are you as well?
I mean, I think I played for about a year when I was like nine or ten. Then three years ago, I picked up a racket again and it’s just something that’s transformed my life in a very positive way. It brings me a lot of joy outside of work. I also like to surf but living where I do, it’s complicated. So to have something to pursue a few times a week––I love it.
Is there a court nearby?
I’ve got a tennis court right here. It’s between an alley of peach trees and pear trees. It’s pretty dreamy.
That sounds amazing. Who do you play with?
One of my best friends is Swedish, and he has a ceramics studio set up at my house. Him and I play two or three times a week. And then I’ve got a couple of other friends I play with. Ideal situation, I play four or five times a week.
Whoa! Sounds fantastic. We’re getting towards the end of this interview. Now, what’s your favourite thing to eat?
Haha!
No, who – living or dead – who would you love to cook a meal for at your restaurant?
Since opening the restaurant, I’ve had the opportunity to cook for a lot of chefs I really admire. It’s always nice to see people who’ve inspired you. That’s been so wonderful. But maybe Carlos Alcaraz or Jannik Sinner if they’re going to give me some tennis lessons.
Maybe even both of them?
Yeah! But no––no one springs to mind, actually. Is that bizarre?
No. Well. Maybe a little?
I like cooking for my friends. I get more excitement out of cooking for a nice group of friends.
James wears Another Sweater 2.0, Dusk Brown (see more)
