Our famous guests

GASTRONOMES

The Club des Cents created in 1912 (did you really have to weigh 100 kilos to be a member?)

Including :

• Maurice Edmond Sailland, better known by his pseudonym Curnonsky, elected Prince of Gastronomes,
• Henri Babinski, known as Ali-Bab, gourmet author,
• Auguste Escoffier, « the King of cooks, the cook of kings »,
• Prosper Montagné, illustrious chef and co-author with Dr. Gottschalk of the famous « Larousse Gastronomique »,
• Marcel Rouff, a journalist from Geneva, or Maeterlink, a member of the academy of gastronomes founded in 1930 by Curnonsky.
• Julia Child, the internationally renowned American chef who introduced butter into the recipes across the Atlantic after her lunch - which we still serve today at La Couronne. His emblematic character was played by Meryl Streep in the film July & Julia.
• Jean-Pierre Coffe, the favourite critic of the French and today the Rouennaises Toques, whose President is none other than our Chief, Vincent Taillefer.

The sports

Jacques Anquetil & his friends and challengers, heroes of the Tour de France to whom La Couronne has dedicated the artists' lounge, located in the balconies of La Couronne.

At the beginning of the 1950s, Jacques Anquetil, (from the Rouen region: he was born in Mont-Saint-Aignan), won 16 amateur races, including the Maurice Latour prize on May 3, 1951 in Rouen. A first victory that heralds many others, 184 to be exact.

In 1957, he started his first Tour de France. Five times, he'll win it. An achievement at the time. But he didn't stop there, as he was also the first to win the three major rounds: France, Italy and Spain.

But already in 1954, he had just had lunch at La Couronne with his friend Bernard Gauthier. While the first won the Grand Prix des Nations, the second one did it again on the Bordeaux-Paris, earning him the famous nickname "Monsieur Bordeaux-Paris". That same year, his friends and challengers Louison Bobet, André Mahé, Ferdy Kubler came to dinner at La Couronne on July 7 (3rd stage Lille Rouen) during the 41st Tour de France. Louison Bobet won, followed in 2nd by Kubler. Louison Bobet, other heroes of the sport, held the record for the victories of the Tour de France before Jacques Anquetil: three times he was the winner. In 1997, René Privat and Jean René Godart, sports columnist who presented the program Les Marches du tour, followed in the footsteps of these champions and came to enjoy a meal in La Couronne. Miguel Indurain, who won the round 5 times in a row (1991-1995), also came to dinner at La Couronne in 1997, when he gave up the competition. La Couronne also saw Roger Walkowiak (winner of the Tour de France in 1956), Pedro Del Gado (winner of the Tour de France in 1988) and Raymond Poulidor (1966-2000) whose memories of his most beautiful victories remain associated with the city of Rouen.

The tennis

Musketeers René Lacoste, Henri Cochet, Jean Borotra and Jacques Brugnon dit Toto, who won the Davis Cup for the first time for France in 1924. Suzanne Lenglen and Cochet came to the Crown in 1931.

The aviation industry

Dieudonné Costes, hero of modern times, first pilot to fly from Paris to New York non-stop in 1930, came in 1932 Car racing with Jean manuel Fangio in 1957 And today we are happy to regularly welcome a great champion, David Douillet. but also the greatest captains of ships during the successive Armadas that sailed on our shores of the Seine The geniuses of modern times Henry Ford, the famous car builder who revolutionized the industry, Karpov, chess strategist, but also Cornélus Vanderbilt, the man who invented the chips but especially the richest of the United States thanks to his railway lines, Michel Edouard Leclerc.

The artists

Dali : When he was leaving for America and going to Le Havre to board the great transatlantic ships (no way for him to take the plane), Salvador Dali stopped in Rouen to have lunch at La Couronne, most often tasting a Rouen-style duck.

John Wayne : On the set of the Longest Day in Caen, John Wayne came twice to taste the dishes served at the table of La Couronne.

Fujita, Le Trividic, Georges Conrad, Jean-Paul Sarte & Simone de Beauvoir, Aragon & Camus, Leopold S. Senghor, Jim Harrison, Jean Renoir & Jean Marais, Jean d'Ormesson...

Gainsbourg, served by Dominique Boucourt and who already loved the taste of provocation... & the most daring, Josephine Baker & Mistinguett

The most beautiful women.... Brigitte Bardot, the icon of the 1960s, Sophia Lauren in representation at the Omnia, Audrey Hepburn, accompanied by these couturiers Courrège and Givenchy, Grace of Monaco, who described the place as magical, she was then president of the Monegasque Red Cross visiting our factories on the quays of Seine, Romy Schneider for whom "The Crown is a celebration", or Ingrid Bergman performing Joan of Arc

Grace Kelly, Yul Brynner 1971, Sabine Azema 2005, Patricia Kaas 1990, Sophia Loren 1977, Gérard Jugnot 1999, Estelle Hallyday (Lefébure) 1986, Gérard Lanvin 1999, Martin Lamotte 1995, Francis Huster 1993, Jean Rochefort 1997, Jean Marais 1969, John Wayne 1961, Martine Carol 1949 before Brigitte Bardot in 1962, Jean Seberg 1956, Ingrid Bergmann 1948, Bourvil 1946, Jean Pierre Bacri 1999, Agnès Jaoui, Eddie Barclay, Lino Ventura 1972, André Malraux, Jean-Paul Sartre and Louis Aragon 1971, Serge and Charlotte Gainsbourg, Salvador Dali and his muse Amanda Lear 1966, Tsuguharu Foujita 1958, Anatoly Karpov 1991.

Adriana Karembeu /photo/, Patrick Bruel, faithful after his concerts & Laurent Gerra, gourmet after his one man show /photo/, the most rock Patti Smith & his timeless camera, Christian Lacroix, the fashion designer, and also the pulpy Mathilde Saignier or Agnès Jaoui, Frank Dubosc...

Policies

From Gaston Doumergue, President of the Republic in 1928, René Coty, Edgar Faure, President of the Council in 1955 or Georges Pompidou in 1969 to Jacques and Bernadette Chirac in 1976 and 2006, via Robert Hue, Laurent Fabius, Michel Rocard, François Bayrou, Edouard Balladur, Pierre Albertini, Antoine Ruffenach, Patrick Herr and many others, they came to La Couronne.

Emperors, Presidents, Ambassadors, Consuls, Generals, Influencers and Shadow Men from all over the world: Haile Selassie, the last Emperor of Ethiopia in 1953, Emperor Bao Daï and Empress Nam Phuong of Vietnam, Moktar ould Daddah, 1st President of Mauritania in 1980, Leopold Sédar Senghor, poet and politician in 1979, Philippe Roy, Canadian Ambassador to Paris in 1935, Gladwyn Jebb, British Ambassador in 1956, Klaus Törnudd, Ambassador of Finland in 1995, Youri Kochubey, Ambassador of Ukraine in 1997, Aly Maher El Sayed, Ambassador of Egypt, General Maxime Weygang in 1934, American General Douglas MacArthur, Lord Louis Mountbatten in 1941, Peter Townsend, famous English pilot of the 2nd World War and many others have also passed through La Couronne.

The negus, the last Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie, who organized one of the largest banquet in the history of the Inn. The menu must be brought back: Paté de Caneton de Rouen, Sole Normande, Carré d'Agneau Pré-salé bouquetière, lettuce salad, Norman cheeses, Pommes à la Dorin, café & liqueurs; the wines from the famous cellar: Chablis 1995, Château du cru Beaucaillou 1953, Grands Eschezeaux 1923 en magnum, Veuve Cliquot 1947 en Jeroboan (the day when the VI centenary of La Couronne was celebrated!!)