William Poon

William Wai Lim Poon (3 December 1944 – 16 June 2026) was a Chinese-British chef and restaurateur. A seventh-generation master chef, he moved to England in 1967 and opened the first Poon's restaurant in 1973 on Lisle Street in London's Chinatown. Seven Poon's restaurants were eventually opened, the best known one on King Street in Covent Garden, which received a Michelin Star.

Early life Poon was born in Shunde, Guangdong, the fifth of seven children. He was of the seventh generation in a family of chefs. One of his ancestors was once summoned to the Imperial Court in Peking to work with chefs from other regions; another worked for an itinerant provincial governor and invented a form of the stock cube by soaking cloths in highly concentrated stock and drying them so that they could be easily transported. The family developed recipes for wind-dried sausages and wind-dried duck that Poon later used in his restaurants. When the Communists took over in 1949, the family moved to Portuguese Macao, where his parents started a successful restaurant. He began working in the kitchen of the restaurant when he was 14. He later worked in British Hong Kong training with a Swiss pâtissière where he met future wife Cecilia Lam who was wary of marrying into his large family. When she moved to England, Poon followed suit in 1967. They married the following year. In 1969, he worked as a pastry chef at Hugh Hefner's Playboy Club, and he started a business producing wind-dried meat and sausages. He also ran a fish-and-chip shop in Shepherd's Bush.

Regular customers of Poon's Lord Tanlaw and his wife suggested that Poon moved to a larger premise, and in 1976, Bill and Cecilia Poon opened the Poon's of Covent Garden at 41 King Street on the corner of Covent Garden Piazza with Lord and Lady Tanlaw as partners. Amongst its clientele were Mick Jagger, Frank Sinatra, and Barbra Streisand. All the Poon's restaurants closed, with the original one on Lisle Street closing in 2004. developed the Poon's Wontoneria concept in 2019 including a residency at Carousel on Charlotte Street in 2023, followed by a permanent location at Somerset House in Central London in November 2025.

Community engagement An active member of the Chinese community in London and well-respected in the industry, Bill sat on the judging panel of Chinese Masterchef (organised by Westminster City Council ) and was nominated in 2006 in the Pearl Awards for the Promotion of Excellence in Chinese Cuisine. Poon worked in support of community projects and was the chair of the Euro-Chinese Literature Association (歐華文聯), and the Permanent President of Shunde UK Association.

At Poon's, ingredients that were not used on the day were cooked and given to the homeless at Waterloo Bridge.