Review
Poon’s at Somerset House marks the return of one of London’s best-known Chinese restaurant families. Amy Poon is the daughter of Bill and Cecilia Poon, who opened their first restaurant in Chinatown in 1973, followed by Poon’s of Covent Garden in 1976. Bill Poon, a seventh-generation chef, earned a Michelin star there in 1980, and the family later operated restaurants in London and Geneva before retiring from the business.
Amy revived Poon’s through pop-ups and a range of sauces, wontons and the family’s traditional wind-dried meats before opening her first permanent restaurant at Somerset House in 2025. The cooking is centred on Chinese home food, with dishes including wontons, claypot rice, slow-cooked soups and wind-dried meats made to a family recipe. The 60-seat restaurant occupies two rooms in Somerset House’s New Wing, decorated with photographs, art and objects from the Poon family collection.
Editor’s Highlights
- Silken tofu, avocado and diced pidan, light soy dressing
- Roasted aubergine in our signature Lisle Street Zha Jiang Sauce
- Red Braised Kao Fu: braised gluten with lily flower, woodear fungus and Chinese mushrooms
- Char Siu