Poon’s returns in majestic form at Somerset House

Bill and Cecilia Poon opened their first restaurant in London’s Chinatown in 1973 and went on to win a Michelin star for the Covent Garden Poon’s in 1980. Half a century later, their daughter Amy is continuing the legacy of the family name by opening her first solo restaurant. Poon has been cooking at pop-ups around town since 2018; here at Somerset House, she is putting down permanent roots in one of London’s most impressive Grade I-listed showstoppers.

Wallpaper* dines at Poon’s at Somerset House, London

The mood: homely grandeur

The idea behind the Somerset House interiors is that the two rooms – dining room and library – should feel like a home from home, though given the grand surroundings and the fact that the Poons are London restaurant royalty, it’s definitely dream home territory. Pieces from the Poon family collection – a piano, club chairs, side tables and cookbooks – sit in interiors designed by Janet McGlennon, an old friend of Poon who recently relocated from Singapore to London.

‘All the Chinese cookbooks are my own, and many of the other books on China have been gifted by friends who have lived in Hong Kong and China, so it’s all very personal,’ Poon says. ‘At the same time, there’s a bit of fun, wit and whimsy both in the decor and the food – the mural of mahjong-playing rabbits mirrors the crudités with whipped furu (fermented tofu) on the menu.’

The food: elevated Chinese home cooking

Poon’s home deliveries of pillowy won-tun dumplings stuffed with juicy pork, and jars of umami-packed crunchy chilli sauce, were cult foodie hits for lockdown Londoners. Both are on the menu here, but so too are family recipes taught by her dad, such as zha jiang noodles (thick wheat noodles topped with pork and fermented soybeans) and claypot jasmine rice with a choice of steamed toppings.

If you don’t fancy a full-on feast, small plates such as pan-fried wind-dried sausage and house pickles are served in the library (which is dog-friendly too), plus there’s a pre-theatre set menu of three dishes and a soup.

The wine list leans towards cool-climate vineyards with a focus on female and biodynamic producers, with 20 available by the glass. There are non-alcoholic cocktails, too, and single-origin whole-leaf teas, supplied by Plantation Teas in Hong Kong and sourced from family farms in China and Taiwan. Family is everything, after all.

Poon’s at Somerset House is located at Lancaster Pl, London WC2R 1LA, UK.