The influential Chinese chef and restaurateur Bill Poon has died at the age of 81. His passing was announced this week by his daughter, fellow-restaurateur Amy Poon (pictured).
Bill was a crucial figure in elevating the standards – and the standing – of Chinese cuisine in Britain, bringing new ambition and culinary knowhow to the scene in the 1970s and 80s. He also attracted a clientele of A-listers, with regulars including Mick Jagger, Jerry Hall, Michael Caine and Barbra Streisand.
Born in Guangdong province to a family of chefs running back seven generations, Bill trained under a Swiss pâtissier in Hong Kong before making his way to London in the 1960s. He worked initially in the Playboy Club before setting up Poon’s & Co with his wife Cecilia (who survives him) in 1973, in Chinatown’s Lisle Street. They followed up with Poon’s of Covent Garden three years later.
At its height his empire ran to seven restaurants, including an outpost in Geneva. Bill retired in 2003 but maintained a business in wind-dried meats – one of several specialities he pioneered in the UK. He also lived to see the family restaurant name reborn when Amy launched Poon’s at Somerset House late last year.
Jon Spiteri, a co-founder of restaurant St John, was among many friends and admirers in the industry to pay tribute this week, saying: “When Poon’s opened in the early Seventies, Bill and Cecilia forever changed the way Chinese food was perceived in England … Bill was and is a giant in the British culinary world and has left a void. I loved Bill and he will be hugely missed.”
