About Us
“An evolving food business, bringing you our signature Chinese sauces, wind-dried meat products, fresh wontons & Wontoneria restaurant.”
Established by seventh generation chef Bill Poon, Poon’s dominated the London Chinese dining scene from 1973 to 2003, gaining a cult following and a Michelin star in 1980. Bill’s daughter, Amy, brought Poon’s back in a new guise in 2018 with a critically acclaimed pop-up in Clerkenwell, followed by a Poon’s Wontoneria pop-up at JOY at Portobello. In February 2023, Amy launched a year long Wontoneria at No.23, a residency at Carousel’s incubator restaurant space on Charlotte Street in London.
Our Products
In 2021 Amy launched an award-winning range of signature Chinese sauces delivering Poon’s modern Chinese pantry essentials to kitchens across the country. Strongly grounded in Poon’s time-honoured family recipes, the sauces give a lift to home cooking, showcasing Poon’s unique ability to transform the simplest ingredients into something special.
About Amy
Amy returned to London in 2018 to revive her family’s business, Poon’s, through a 3-month pop-up in Clerkenwell. In 2021, during lockdown, she launched Poon’s Wontoneria and a retail range of signature Poon’s sauces followed later that year. Wontoneria is currently operating at Carousel’s “side-hustle” at 23 Charlotte Street. All four sauces in the Poon’s signature range were awarded stars in the 2023 Great Taste Awards and are now available at Fortnum & Mason, Selfridges, Harrods, Harvey Nichols, online and at specialist food shops around the UK. Amy has recently cooked at Carousel, Mortimer House, Caravel and The London Shell Co as guest chef.
“What is a meal really but edible love?”
Our History
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 a Burberry 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.
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