Lily Kwok (26 September 1918 – 8 December 2007), also known as Sui King Kwok and Sui King Leung, was a Chinese-born restaurateur in the

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

area.

Early life and family

Sui King Leung was born in the

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

province of China, in a family of six daughters. Her father was a small businessman, who manufactured and sold

soy sauce Soy sauce (sometimes called soya sauce in British English) is a liquid condiment of China, Chinese origin, traditionally made from a fermentation (food), fermented paste of soybeans, roasted cereal, grain, brine, and ''Aspergillus oryzae'' or ''A ...

to restaurants in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. The family moved to Hong Kong when Sui King Leung was a girl. When her father was killed by rivals, she and her sisters were considered ineligible to inherit his factory; instead, the daughters supported themselves with sewing, making deliveries, and domestic service. Sui King Leung married Kwok Chan in 1946, when she was seventeen. They had three children together. When the Kwoks separated in the early 1950s, Sui King Kwok went back into domestic service, this time as a caregiver in an English family, the Woodmans. She started using the name "Lily Kwok" in their household. When the Woodmans returned to England in 1953, Lily Kwok went with them.

Career in England

Lily Kwok continued to work for the Woodmans at their home in

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

. In 1959, the Woodmans gave Lily Kwok a loan to start a restaurant in Middleton, near Manchester. Lung Fung was one of the first Chinese restaurants in the United Kingdom, and became a popular late-night stop for musicians and celebrities. She soon added two satellite locations for takeaway, in Bury and

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the River Ribble, Ribble Valley, east of Preston ...

. In the 1970s she was forced the sell all three locations to settle gambling debts. She opened another restaurant, Lung Fung Too, and left that business to her family when she retired in 1993."Fortune Cooking?"
BBC.co.uk (1 February 2007).

Legacy

Lily Kwok died in 2007, in

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

, aged 89 years. Her three granddaughters, Lisa, Janet, and Helen Tse, have continued in the hospitality business with Sweet Mandarin, a Chinese restaurant they opened together in 2004 in Manchester, where "Lily Kwok's Chicken Curry" remains a menu item. In 2007 Helen Tse published a family memoir, also called ''Sweet Mandarin'' about her grandmother's life and career, which has subsequently gone on to be adapted into a stage play by the

Royal Exchange Theatre The Royal Exchange is a grade II listed building in Manchester, England. It is located in the city centre on land bounded by St Ann's Square, Exchange Street, Market Street, Cross Street and Old Bank Street. The complex includes the Royal Exc ...

, Yellow Earth and Black Theatre Live. Lisa Tse and Helen Tse have also published cookbooks based on their grandmother's recipes.Helen and Lisa Tse, ''Sweet Mandarin Cookbook'' (Kyle Books 2014).

References

External links

*The "About Us" page at the website of the restaurant Sweet Mandarin include
photos of Lily Kwok with her daughter and granddaughters
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kwok, Lily 1918 births 2007 deaths Hong Kong emigrants to England British restaurateurs British women chefs Businesspeople from Guangdong Chinese emigrants to British Hong Kong Women restaurateurs