His son Steve Yeung detailed the life of his late father Yeun, born in 1929, who lived in a mud hut with no running water or electricity.

He opened the Pearl Dragon in 1978 and the restaurant serves authentic Chinese food. They have two head chefs, one of which solely prepares the popular dim sum dishes and a specially made oven, shipped over from China, that makes extra crispy pork.

“The story of the restaurant is really my father’s story. He was born in poverty, but he was a hard worker. He built the only road out of his village and built the well,” said Steve.

“He moved to Hong Kong where he met my mother, Tsang, known to everyone as ‘Mrs Yeung’. My father never forgot where he was from and gave a lot of money to charity to support the village over the years and went back when he could.”

Lasting legacy - Yuen and Tsang

Steve’s father came to the UK alone to save enough money for his wife and five children to move over.

He was a waiter in China Town in London by day and a delivery driver by night. When Yeun had saved enough money, he opened a Chinese takeaway in Romford, called Silver City and one of the same name in Rayleigh, which has since been sold.

Steve said Yeun, who passed away in 2000, loved the restaurant.

“We try to, in some small way, keep the legacy alive and continue to support my father’s village,” he said.

“His restaurant was his pride and joy. It is important to us that people feel welcome and we have a lot of local Chinese who come here, especially for Sunday lunch.”

Steve's father was a founding member and served as president for two terms for the South East Essex Chinese Community and on his retirement was honoured as honorary lifetime president for his local work. 

"He helped to setup a local Chinese language school for local residents to ensure our language and culture was passed down the generations. It still goes on to this day," said Steve.

Friendly team - Steve (fifth from left) and the Pearl Dragon team

Chinese culture is important to Steve and his family and they were part of a short film called Parallel by Rosanna Lee, which showed at the Big Screen Southend at the Focal Point Gallery from March to June this year.

“It was about the younger generation who do not know the language and cannot communicate with the older Chinese generation. However, they still have the language of food to connect them,” he said.

“It is something we see all the time here. Families coming for their Sunday lunch and the children saying something and the parents saying it in pigeon Chinese to the grandmother. However, the children can say the name of the food in Chinese, and they are able to have that special time together.”

Visit www.pearldragon.co.uk.