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Simone Prunier (1904–1976), known as Madam Prunier, was a French
Simone Prunier (1904–1976), known as Madam Prunier, was a French restaurateur
A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspec ...
and food writer who established a well-known French restaurant in London.
Biography
Simone Prunier was born in 1904. She the granddaughter of French restaurateurAlfred Prunier
Alfred Prunier (; 1848 in Yerville, France – 1925) was a French chef and restaurant owner.
In 1872 Prunier and his wife Catherine opened a Parisian restaurant on Rue Duphot that bore his name. Today the same restaurant operates under t ...
, who opened La Maison Prunier, the first Prunier fish restaurant, in Paris in 1872. La Maison Prunier became famous for the fresh fish and shellfish
Shellfish is a colloquial and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater envir ...
that was delivered daily by train from the sea, a novelty at the time. When Alfred Prunier died, his son Emile Prunier (Simone Prunier's father) took over the restaurant, expanding and modernizing it. When Emile died in 1925, the then 22-year old Simone Prunier took over the business.
In 1934, Prunier and her husband closed the Paris restaurant and opened the Prunier St James's restaurant in London. Many of her wealthy clients had stopped coming to Paris due to war fears. In addition, her English clients had urged her to move to London for years. Prunier St James's quickly gained a reputation for its outstanding fish dishes. Edward Prince of Wales used to walk up to the restaurant from St James's Palace
St James's Palace is the most senior royal palace in London, the capital of the United Kingdom. The palace gives its name to the Court of St James's, which is the monarch's royal court, and is located in the City of Westminster in London. Altho ...
with Wallis Simpson
Wallis, Duchess of Windsor (born Bessie Wallis Warfield, later Simpson; June 19, 1896 – April 24, 1986), was an American socialite and wife of the former King Edward VIII. Their intention to marry and her status as a divorcée caused ...
for lunch.
In 1938, Prunier published her book ''A Classic Way with Fish''. Rick Stein
Rick may refer to:
People
*Rick (given name), a list of people with the given name
*Alan Rick (born 1976), Brazilian politician, journalist, pastor and television personality
*Johannes Rick (1869–1946), Austrian-born Brazilian priest and mycol ...
credits it as being "a very influential book in my early days of fish cookery"
Prunier had a strong reputation for the quality of her fish dishes at Prunier St. James as well as for her hospitality. After World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the restaurant clientele included some deposed heads of state who had visited the London and Paris restaurants when in power before the war.
In 1954, Prunier was made Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...
, France's highest honour, in recognition of her services to maintaining the standards and recognition of French cuisine
French cuisine () is the cooking traditions and practices from France. It has been influenced over the centuries by the many surrounding cultures of Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium, in addition to the food traditions of the re ...
. As her father had said: "It's true it's cost me a lot of work. It's true it's cost me a lot of worry. But what a magnificent business it is, ''quelle belle Maison''."
In her retirement, Prunier wrote her biography ''La Maison: The History of Prunier'' published in 1957. The Prunier St James's restaurant closed in 1976. {{Cite web, url=http://www.quadrille.co.uk/author/madame-prunier/180, title=Quadrille Publishing - Madame Prunier Bio, website=www.quadrille.co.uk, access-date=2016-07-11
Selected bibliography
''Madame Prunier's'' ''Fish Cookery Book'', pub. Quadrille (1938) Madame Prunier - ''La Maison: The History of Prunier'', pub. Longsman (1957"References