From butcher shop to Michelin-star: Aussie chef reflects on journey

The 48-year-old chef, who was born in Bowral, NSW has flown under the Australian radar but has a well established profile in Ireland where he's lived on and off since 1999.

In October, 2022, his restaurant, Liath (pronounced Leah), in the seaside village of Blackrock, Dublin was awarded its second Michelin star. It was one of just five Irish restaurants to achieve such success and came less than three years after his first Michelin star and the challenges of COVID.

It also followed Michelin stars in 2017, 2018 and 2019 for his former restaurant, Heron and Grey, which he owned with business partner, Andrew Heron.

The road to success had humble beginnings. Damien, the son of Heather and Wayne James, moved to Goulburn from Bowral as a four-year-old. His grandparents, Frank and Nancy Grey lived in the city. Damien was educated at Goulburn West, Goulburn High and Bowral High schools before taking up his first job.

At Croker's butcher shop in Goulburn's Kinghorne Street he worked with Greg Croker and Graeme Welsh.

"I made sausages and cleaned the butcher's gear. It was a great job and I loved it," Damien said.

After stints at Coles supermarket and the NSW Police Academy kitchen, his father urged him to enter the food industry. An apprenticeship at a Greek/Italian restaurant in Sydney's Glebe Point Road ignited a passion. Cypriot owner and chef, Stavros Stavros, also planted lifelong lessons.

"His philosophy was if you go fast, you'll go slow, but if you go slow, you'll go fast. It's a motto I live by today," Damien said.

"It was the care, attention to detail and work ethic. They came to Australia with nothing and worked for everything."

After cheffing at other Sydney restaurants, he set off for London with Irish-born partner Claudine in 1998. Kitchens were "tough, with lots of abuse" but the penny dropped that if you could make it in London, you could go all the way.

The couple moved to Dublin some time later and returned to Australia several times between 2006 and 2014, where Damien worked at Sydney's Pavilion Restaurant and Canberra's Sage Restaurant. In 2014 they moved back to Dublin with their two daughters.

While working at Chapter One restaurant, Damien started scouting for a place of his own.

"We got wind of a place where Liath is now in Blackrock. It was a little breakfast cafe and a young couple had taken it over," Damien said.

Through a mutual contact, he met Andrew Heron and within three months, in December, 2015, opened the 22-seat Heron and Grey restaurant in a dimly lit alley within a market stall. Patrons relied on the nearby market toilets, dined off Ikea plates and enjoyed a "happy and vibrant atmosphere."

They served a tasting menu of five courses for just 48 Euros.

"We had to be cheap and good value for money and needed to change our menu every two weeks because if it was the same, people wouldn't come back," Damien said.

They focused on local produce and respect for ingredients. Soon they were being noticed and heard whispers of Michelin inspectors' visits. When news of their first Michelin star came in 2017, it left the partners shaking. A week later they were in London receiving their award, breaking the concept that Michelin stars were restricted to "stuffy linen" restaurants.

"It was a mind-blowingly surreal moment...We were a bundle of nerves," Damien said.

"I looked down in the front row and saw the likes of Gordon Ramsay watching us getting our first star. It was gobsmacking."

The award catapulted the restaurant to a new level. Soon it was booked out for a year. The partners devoted long hours, refreshed the premises, installed an onsite toilet and gained international coverage.

But in 2018, Mr Heron decided to leave the hospitality industry to spend time with his wife and soon to be born baby.

The restaurant had been set to expand but Damien had to regroup. Eventually, he decided to buy out his partner, borrow and redevelop the premises with purpose-designed kitchen, furnishings and new services.

In the process, he made a documentary, Chasing Stars, in which he travelled the world seeking advice from top chefs. Damien's daughter suggested he called his restaurant Liath, which means 'grey' in Irish.

Heron and Grey's team stayed with him and in March, 2019, the 22-seat Liath opened to the public. Its fine-dining, multi-course tasting menu soon attracted a stream of patrons. Within six months it was awarded a Michelin star.

COVID threw up new challenges. Though still in debt, Damien, with help from a government scheme, maintained his staff. Restaurants initially closed but were allowed to reopen for takeaways. He developed a meal kit with ingredients people could compile at home into a 10-course "Michelin-star" meal, complete with virtual instructions.

But in August, 2021, tired of the stop-start opening and closing rules, Damien decided to temporarily shut Liath and undertake a complete refresh. His staff came along for the ride, revising menus, identifying produce and a new style.

"Our new motto was adapt, evolve and create and we did. We created a new Liath," Damien said.

The restaurant re-opened in December, 2021 with a 21-course menu and was awarded its second Michelin star the following February. Damien said it was a very humbling and rewarding moment that was testament to his staff's teamwork. Leith is booked out until April.

"It's an Alice in Wonderland thing to find our place," he said.

"It's in a bohemian ramshackle market, as rough as it gets but then you get to this door. We open at 7.30pm and take in guests for a three-hour journey through 21 courses. We make you forget where you are."

"...I still believe there's more to come. I want three (Michelin) stars but the main thing is to continue doing what we do well."

Back in Goulburn, he was happy to see his family for the first time in five years and catch up with friends. Damien said he loved the city's heritage and the fact it wasn't stuck in time but also not hurrying to be "something new."

His parents were suitably proud of his success.

Though his name and profile are little known in Australia, he wants to one day "crack the market."

"Australia is my final frontier...That would be the final piece in the puzzle," Damien said.