Not welcome at the Unicorn

Madam, - I can tell Peter Strunz (May 18th) that not everyone was enamoured with the standard of cuisine at his parents' Unicorn…

Madam, - I can tell Peter Strunz (May 18th) that not everyone was enamoured with the standard of cuisine at his parents' Unicorn restaurant.

Erwin and Lisl Strunz, who had lived in Ireland since the mid-1930s, became great friends and supporters of my grandparents and mother, when the latter arrived on these shores from Nazi Germany in 1939.

Erwin himself told me the following story about the Unicorn. One night during the early years of the war, who should turn up at this peaceful artists' and writers' Mecca but Edouard Hempel and his acolytes from the German Legation.

They proceeded to settle in for an evening of boisterous merriment. Erwin, a staunch pacifist and Nazi-hater, was incandescent with rage at what he perceived to be an invasion of the sanctity of the Unicorn by war-mongerers.

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As the food was about to be sent to the Germans' table, Erwin called over the waitress and sprinkled salt liberally over all the meals. Hempel took one mouthful, and nearly choked. As one, the party of Germans got up and walked out. They knew where they weren't wanted, and never darkened the doors of the Unicorn again.

In those days of worldwide political uncertainty, I think it was an incredibly brave act of defiance on the part of Erwin Strunz. - Yours, etc,

D.K. HENDERSON, Castle Avenue, Dublin 3.