Poon's London

london

There is so much more to Chinese food than sweet and sour pork and dim sum!

It has breadth and depth that is yet to be explored. As well as the wealth of regional dishes, there is an array of cooking techniques that is not yet familiar. Chinese food can also be surprisingly simple and you don’t necessarily need fancy kit to cook it at home.

It’s much more accessible than most people think. Chinese food is so much more than nourishment for the body and sensations for the mouth, it is culturally an expression of love.

The Chinese are not known to be tactile people but they express their love and affection through food.

The story behind the business
Meet Poon's London

Our family culinary history runs deep.

My father comes from a long line of chefs. Somewhere in the long distant past is a many times great grandfather who was chef to an emperor. Another many times great grandfather effectively invented the stock cube.

My grandparents had a famous restaurant in Macau where my granny was famed for her knife skills. There is an old family recipe for Chinese Wind Dried Meats, which we still produce today. My father started in the kitchen young. In Hong Kong, he trained with a Swiss pâtissier and in the mid-Sixties he came to England in pursuit of my mother.

Disappointed by the quality of Chinese food in England at the time, my parents opened the first Poon’s Restaurant in 1973 in Lisle Street, Chinatown. Three years later they opened the iconic Poon’s of Covent Garden at 41 King Street (now an Arc'teryx store.) The great and the good dined there – from Mick Jagger to Barbara Streisand. In 1980 my father was awarded a Michelin Star. Restaurants in Geneva and The City followed. My parents retired in 2006.

I have worked in all my parents’ restaurants and swore I would never go into the business, but what chance does one stand against kismet? So, I bring you my Chinese kitchen from the depths of my heart & my family’s hearth.

founder Credentials

  • Asian Owned Business
  • Female Founded Business
  • Family Business
bill and cecilia Poon in a restaurant

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