Poon’s Somerset House

Few London restaurant stories carry as much weight — or as much warmth — as this one. Amy Poon’s grandparents had a restaurant in Macau, before her father Bill moved from Hong Kong to London and opened the first Poon’s in Chinatown in 1973, followed by the celebrated Covent Garden restaurant that earned a Michelin star in 1980. Amy swore she’d never go into the business, but kismet intervened — and after years of pop-ups and a beloved range of sauces and wind-dried meats, she has opened her first solo restaurant in Somerset House’s historic New Wing, just a short walk from where Poon’s once stood in Covent Garden. The food is emphatically home cooking: claypot rice, magic soup (described on the menu as “a fortifying bowl of granny wisdom”), steamed sea bass, and wind-dried meats made to a generations-old family recipe. The 60-seat dining room, designed with Janet McGlennon Interiors, is adorned with family photographs, books, art and heirlooms — less a restaurant, more a living act of remembrance.