How to host a Le Doyenné-style tennis tournament

“I try to play tennis every day – it brings me so much joy,” says James Henry, the French-Australian chef and co-founder of Le Doyenné, a farm, restaurant and guesthouse an hour outside Paris in the grounds of Château de Saint-Vrain (once the country retreat of Louis XV’s mistress, the comtesse du Barry). This afternoon he is hosting Le Doyenné’s first tennis tournament for a group of chefs, entrepreneurs and creatives who arrive from Paris in their tennis whites. (Meta’s head of fashion and beauty partnerships, Clara Cornet, is among the best-dressed in a crisp cotton shirt and her signature cat-eye shades.)

Wow, that’s what a strawberry tastes like

The courts, which were restored by Le Doyenné last year, are located in the vegetable farm. The chef has laid a long table with a simple white tablecloth and freshly cut wildflowers outside the court’s entrance, in the shade of a cluster of 100-year-old pear trees. The scent of strawberries wafts over from a nearby patch. Cornet reaches for one: “Wow, that’s what a strawberry tastes like,” she says.

Henry opened Le Doyenné in 2022, having cut his teeth in Melbourne’s art and fashion district then in Paris at Au Passage, a natural-wine and nose-to-tail hotspot. He is known for his organic, seasonal approach, which today manifests in Cantabrian anchovies on house-made sourdough toast, Ibérico chorizo brought home from a recent trip to Madrid, a broad bean, parmesan and mint salad and a plate of crudités plucked from the farm. There are also Utah Beach oysters on a bed of ice. 

Despite the promise of exercise, the party is welcomed with gin and tonics made with lavender gin from French distillery Petit Grain, Lutèce spritzes and Martinis served in frozen glasses with Sicilian olives. “You definitely feel like you earn your drinks – the Martinis taste that much sweeter,” jokes Henry. Guests take turns to play each other, although the tournament is “more for the love of the game than the competition”.

Dessert, a Charlotte cake lined with ladyfingers and topped with berries from the garden, arrives after the tournament ends. “It’s a bit fussy for some people, but you can keep it in the fridge a couple of hours before you need to bring it out,” Henry says, adding that the only thing he’d have done differently is not host on the same day as the UEFA Champions League final – one of two times Paris Saint-Germain FC has made the cut. At least, unlike Henry, who had to concede defeat to fellow chef Omar Koreitem and interior designer Drew Straus, PSG won.