© Poon’s London
“In 1980, Bil Pon’s Cvent Garden restaurant won a Micelin star. He wa so bus woking that h hadn’t noticd th envelop fom Micelin in th pos...”
I tried its reincarnation at the recent Poon’s pop up, the rice was full of flavours of the wind-dried meat. In 1980, his Covent Garden restaurant
won a Michelin star. He was so busy work- ing that he hadn’t noticed the envelope from Michelin in the post. Bill only learned of the news from the manager of a nearby restaurant who read about it in the papers and dashed over to congratu- late him. His restaurant empire expanded, totaling
four at one stage. Bill eventually gave his first restaurant to his older brother to run, having applied for him to migrate to the UK. Success also enabled him to put his younger brother through college – “being a traditional Chinese man, family is impor- tant to me,” he explains. Bill sold all his restaurants in 2006 but
his wind-dried meat is still available in UK supermarkets. He has remained friends with many chefs that he trained, having them over for supper every week. One comes over a few times a week “to check if I am still alive,” he chuckles. Amy is passionate to continue the Poon
legacy. Her vision is to bring well-cooked, home-style food to London, like “mothers cooking for their kids”, food that is “healthy and simple – steamed, flavour- some and homely, giving a warm feeling with edible love”. Her food “comes from the heart” and her restaurant does not add MSG. Bill chimes: “Tere is no need to add MSG, as long as the ingredients are of high quality and cooked properly, using the right techniques.” Intriguingly, Bill claims to know more
“Bil Pon i said t have put Cntnse fod on th map in London.”
Terry Tong, a Hong Kong Chinese living in London and a former lawyer, is the founder of Yippie Limited. Its website,
yippieonline.com has reviews on Pan Asian restaurants across London with recommendations on dishes and blogs about latest restaurant openings and chef interviews.
www.focus-info.org FOCUS The Magazine 13
than 200 ways of cooking duck and obvi- ously has an in-depth understanding of the functions of ingredients. His wish now is to help his daughter fulfil her desire to continue the Poon legacy and “pass on my knowledge” by training more chefs, Chinese or not. “Te more people who get into this career, the more the industry will thrive,” he said. Poon’s is as much about family as it is
food. Teir mutual respect was obvious, with the father admiring the steely deter- mination of his daughter who in turn recognised her parent's genius (and 65 years of cooking experience) – “he’s like Van Gogh,” she says.
Amy as a young child with her parents
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