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Madame Prunier

Simone Prunier was a famous French restaurateur with restaurants in Paris and London, the granddaughter of French restaurateur Alfred Prunier who opened the first Prunier fish restaurant in Paris in 1872. La Maison Prunier became famous for its fresh fish and shellfish, brought to the restaurant daily by train from the sea, a novelty at the time. It was frequented by 'Le Beau Monde' of the time, from kings and queens to politicians, writers and actors. When Alfred Prunier died suddenly from the stress of running the business, his son Emile Prunier (Simone's father) took over and expanded and modernised, even starting caviar farming in France when supplies from Russia dried up after the Revolution. He also died young and, in 1925, the 22-year old Simone (henceforth known as 'Madame Prunier') took over the running of the business. She had married one of her father's most promising executives. In 1934, with the rumblings of World War II on the horizon and their wealthy clientele not travelling to Paris any more, they decided to expand the business out of France and to open a new branch in London at the prompting of their many English clients who had been asking for years. Prunier St James's quickly gained a reputation for its outstanding fish dishes under the formidable, beautiful and very young Madame Prunier. Edward Prince of Wales used to walk up from St James's Palace to lunch there regularly with Mrs Simpson. Her seminal book "A Classic Way with Fish" was written in London and first published in 1938. Rick Stein credits it as being "a very influential book in my early days of fish cookery"

'Grande Dame' of French restaurateurs in London, Madame Prunier was considered the doyenne of fish cookery of her day. Her English customers were in awe of her. Running a grand restaurant is no easy task. She was particularly adept at making the clientele feel welcome and cared for, even the deposed heads of state post WWII who had visited the restaurants when in power before the war. In 1954, she was made Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur, France's highest honour, in recognition of her services to maintaining the standards and recognition of French cooking. To quote her father: "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'."

The London restaurant in St James's closed in 1976 but is still remembered fondly by an older crowd. The caviar farming business in France is still going. In her retirement, Madame Prunier wrote her biography "La Maison: The History of Prunier" published in 1957.

Selected Bibliography
Madame Prunier's Fish Cookery Book, pub. Quadrille (1938)

Madame Prunier - La Maison: The History of Prunier, pub. Longsman (1957"