Amy Poon knows a thing or two about legacy. Her parents, Bill and Cecilia Poon, opened the original Poon’s in Chinatown in 1973, followed by a Michelin-starred outpost in Covent Garden that hosted the likes of Mick Jagger and Barbra Streisand. Her father was the first to introduce claypot rice to the UK, and her grandfather perfected the family’s recipe for Cantonese wind-dried meats. It’s no surprise, then, that when she revived the family business in 2018 with a three-month pop-up in Clerkenwell, Londoners took notice. Over the next five years, her numerous “Wontoneria” residencies drew rave reviews. At her HQ – a railway arch at Spa Terminus in Bermondsey that houses a production kitchen and an office – she now sells fresh wontons, Chinese sauces, oils and pastes.
While the arch has proved useful (“it works hard … but it isn’t pretty”), Poon’s has finally found a permanent home in the New Wing of Somerset House. It joins new venues Aram, by Imad Alarnab, and terrace bar Setlist as part of the cultural institution’s bid to become a drinking and dining hub. Here, she seeks to carry her family’s foundations into the future, reshaping them into something fresh. Poon’s is a 60-cover space designed in collaboration with friend Janet McGlennon to create a home away from home inside the historic building. Her mother has been extremely hands-on, even calling in the help of a feng shui grandmaster to ensure everything is in exactly the right place.
The first room has a library feel, with a communal table at its centre and walls lined with art and photographs from the Poons’ personal collection. The second room features an open kitchen that immerses diners in the action. There is also a private dining room that seats up to 24, which will be available for book launches, readings, masterclasses, wine-tastings, exhibitions, and other events that Poon and friends will host throughout the year. The front cobbled terrace will open for outdoor dining at a later date.
“The menu is very much grounded in Chinese home cooking – what my mother cooks and the food I was brought up on at home, and what I now cook for my family,” Poon says. Expect her signature claypot rice, bubbling away until the edges are crisp, and bowls of “magic soup”, a nourishing, slow-cooked mainstay of Cantonese home cooking, alongside the house wind-dried meats (including sausage and bacon). The siu sik (small plates served in the bar) tell stories of their own. “There is a tradition of naming dishes metaphorically, sometimes in a rather poetic way, which translates poorly,” Poon explains. “In the same vein, some of our dishes have stories behind them, like The Hill That Amy Didn’t Die On and When Henry Met Denise.”
The wine list champions cool-climate bottles, family-run and biodynamic vineyards, and female winemakers, showcasing how versatile wine and Chinese food pairings can be. Cocktails play on unexpected flavours, including pickled ginger and sweet-and-sour profiles.
As a Grade I-listed building, Somerset House isn’t an easy place to open a restaurant. There is no traditional air conditioning or ventilation, and no structural tweaks can be made to accommodate a kitchen. On top of that, the restaurant space is split across a common corridor, while staff and storage areas are tucked away in the basement.
“The rooms have such beautiful bones, like Charlotte Rampling’s cheeks,” Poon jokes. “In build and operational terms, I couldn’t have chosen anything less practical! But it feels like hallowed ground – and so it should be.”
For Poon it feels like a homecoming. She has returned to central London, close to where her parents once built their Chinese restaurant empire, with the chance to champion a new kind of elegance in Chinese dining. It is about quality ingredients, good wine and a beautiful setting, without any fine-dining pretence.
“This is the window into a world of not just Chinese food but Chinese arts and culture,” she explains. “When we cooked for the artist Ai Weiwei recently, he said our food was dignified. That’s what I want people to associate with Chinese food.”
Poon’s at Somerset House
Somerset House, New Wing
Lancaster Place, London WC2R 1LA
Hours:
Mon to Sun midday–11pm
