Emmanuelle PRIGENT

Chef de service : 1 restaurant Winner of the Accueil Bretagne 2024 trophy, Emmanuelle Prigent is an energetic presence in the salle de Brume, a popular bistro on the Quiberon peninsula.

Presentation

"When I told the rest of the team that I was going to receive the Accueil trophy, their first reaction was to laugh at me gently, feigning surprise," laughs Emmanuelle Prigent. Quite simply because I can sometimes, but very rarely, be a little curt with an unpleasant customer or attach too much importance to negative comments posted on the internet."

Emmanuelle Prigent describes herself as shy and almost introverted. Yet it's she who lights up the dining room at Brume, the restaurant she opened with her husband, Emmanuel, and their friend Vincent Le Balch, who runs the kitchen, at the far end of the Quiberon peninsula.

Hotel school as a way of escaping the drudgery of the fields

Born in Guingamp into a family of farm workers, Emmanuelle remembers entering the Lycée Hôtelier "to get away from the chores of picking coconuts. It was really hard work, but at the same time I learned a lot from the old hands I used to rub shoulders with in the fields."

A pupil at the Saint-Quay-Portrieux high school - "a year after Glenn Viel, who was already more gifted than the others", she remembers - the young girl then went on to become one of the most gifted students in the world.the young girl of the time quickly turned to the restaurant trade, where she felt much more at ease than in the kitchen. "I had a series of experiences in brasseries in Paris, where we worked hard and at a very fast pace. Then, in 2018, we opened Suzanne, with Emmanuel and Vincent, in Boulogne-Billancourt."

After Paris, back to Brittany

But this Parisian life was exhausting and no longer met the trio's expectations, so in 2022 they moved to the Quiberon peninsula. The site is magnificent, the clientele increasingly loyal, and while Emmanuelle often has to hurry to keep up with the pace of service - "too often for my taste " - the satisfaction of participating in the local economic life counts for a lot. "We're open almost all year round, so it's important for us to maintain our business and show that we're there." An energy rewarded in 2024 with the Accueil Bretagne trophy.