Poon is best known for Poon’s of Covent Garden, which launched in 1976 and was among the first Chinese restaurants in London to be awarded a Michelin star.
Along with his wife Cecilia, Poon and his wider family operated a string of Poon’s restaurants across London for three decades.
At the group’s peak in the 1980s, there were a total of seven Poon’s branded restaurants.
Offering meticulously executed Cantonese cuisine, Poon’s helped set the stage for a new generation of chefs seeking to offer a more refined and progressive take on Chinese food.
The pair retired from the restaurant business in the early 2000s.
Late last year, their daughter Amy brought back the Poon’s brand in permanent restaurant form with a high-profile launch at Somerset House.
Poon was born in Shunde, in China’s Guangdong province, under Japanese military occupation. The family later fled to Macau to escape the impact of the Second World War.
Poon grew up surrounded by food; his parents ran a successful restaurant in Macau where his mother was famed for her impressive knife skills.
Travelling to the UK in the mid-1960s in pursuit of Cecilia, Poon was disappointed by the quality of Chinese food in England.
In the early 1970s, Poon started his acclaimed wind-dried meat production, based on a longstanding family recipe, while working as a pastry chef at The Playboy Club in Mayfair.
He supplemented his income by driving “bunnies” home after his shift.
Poon gained critical acclaim with the opening of his first restaurant, Poon’s & Co, at 27 Lisle Street in Chinatown in 1973.
It was there that he met Lord and Lady Tanlaw, who quickly became regular customers and, not long afterwards, business partners.
The more refined and high-end Poon’s of Covent Garden launched at 41 King Street in 1976 and won a Michelin star in 1980.
Patrons included Mick Jagger, Barbra Streisand and Frank Sinatra, who often ordered Poon’s to his room at the nearby Savoy hotel.
Poon retired from the restaurant business in 2003 but continued to run the family’s successful wind-dried meat production.
He was a well-respected and active member of London’s Chinese community and restaurant industry, feeding homeless people under Waterloo Bridge and tirelessly fundraising for charities close to his heart. He was characteristically generous to a fault.
In 2006, Poon was nominated for the Pearl Awards for the Promotion of Excellence in Chinese Cuisine, while also supporting a range of Chinese community projects.
A poet and artist with scholarly interests, Poon was chair of The Euro-Chinese Literature Association and permanent president of the Shunde UK Association.
“When Poon’s opened in the early seventies Bill and Cecilia forever changed the way Chinese cuisine was perceived in England,” says family friend and restaurateur Jon Spiteri.
“Bill created dishes that were light, fresh and stunningly cooked. It was an absolute treat to go to Poon’s and savour his cuisine. Bill Poon was and is a giant in the British culinary world and has left a void. He has thankfully left us Amy who is carrying on the family tradition at her own restaurant, Poon’s at Somerset House on Waterloo Bridge. I loved Bill and he will be hugely missed.”