Nicole Yeoh and James Harris are the owners of Lucky Lychee, a market stall-turned-Malaysian restaurant in Winchester, which was crowned Good Food Guide’s Best Local Restaurant 2025. With nominations now open for Best Local Restaurants 2026, in partnership with Square, we spoke to Nicole and James about all the ways the award has allowed them to transform their restaurant into the one they’d always dreamed of.
We don’t have those rubbish nights where you may as well not have opened the doors
“Sustained sales growth has been a really important part of what winning Best Local Restaurant has done for us. There wasn’t just a quick burst that died down. We don’t really have quiet services now. It gives us the confidence to order, to prep, to staff. It’s not just that we have new customers, it’s that people are spending more and having more confidence in our judgement. They’re ordering that dessert, that more expensive bottle of wine.”
There’s a real sense of pride from the customers
“Uniquely with the Good Food Guide award, it’s customer-nominated. It’s not like Michelin. It’s not critic-reviewed. The week it was announced, there were customers coming in who were so proud of us and so happy to feel that they were stakeholders in our recognition and our success. They keep bringing their friends here and feel more confident bringing their friends from London, from overseas. There’s certainly a sense of pride from our suppliers as well. Our spend with them has increased and they’re probably happy we’re not going to go bust.”
It was a “do we, don’t we?” moment
“Between hearing we’d won the award and it being announced, we hired an additional chef. We had a really handy call with Sandy and Clement from Bavette [winner of Good Food Guide’s Best Local Restaurant 2024] who told us about their sales growth and how it had been for them. It gave us time to prepare ourselves if the same happened for us. Chefs are very expensive so it was a “do we, don’t we?” moment. We’re very, very glad we did. He’s an ambitious chef and the award was part of attracting him to us.”
“We’re going to be famous!”
“The moment when we told the guys in the kitchen about the award, it was amazing. One of them said, “Oh, s***, we’re going to be famous!” They feel very proud and very motivated. They’re very young and, for some of our line cooks, we’re the first place where they’ve really developed as chefs. It was validation for them that they’re working in the right place. They see the sales growth. We share the impact on the business financials. It gives them confidence and security because there are all these places shutting with no notice and people left high and dry with no income.”
We get to do more interesting dishes now
“We’ve just had banana blossom on the menu. In the past, people would be a bit worried to order something that they’d never heard of before. The Good Food Guide members lunch we did last summer was the first time we’d done a one-off menu but we’ve done a few since. On New Year’s Eve, we did a tasting menu. It makes it very interesting in the kitchen. Our food menu and drinks menu are moving in the direction that we want them to, rather than being constrained by safety. Our cocktail list has become more creative; our wine list has become more interesting; we have the confidence to hunt out more interesting, niche things. Previously, it was disheartening when you’d find something amazing and no one else thinks it amazing.”
With scale, we can focus more on the roles we can uniquely play as founders
“We’re still very hands-on. We’re hoping, with scale and a bigger team, we can focus more on the roles that we can uniquely play as founders. We want to do all the things that we haven’t spent enough time doing in the last five years. We talk about opening a second site. We haven’t had time to think about growing in that way because the sales growth has kept us so busy. We’re more focused on making the most of this site. Opening for midweek lunch is probably the next thing we’re going to unlock which means we can get more from our existing asset rather than risking it all again on another place.”
We have the confidence to express ourselves, to spend money, to invest in people and kit.
“If you were to just read the trade press, you’d think you shouldn’t do any of that stuff, because everyone’s closing all the time and saying how difficult it is to make any money. You can. Having the confidence to do it is sometimes the biggest challenge.”
You can find out if your restaurant fits our criteria here. If you’d like your restaurant to be considered, register now to take part.
Why Lucky Lychee made the switch to Square
"When we heard that we were being awarded Best Local Restaurant, we took the few weeks before it was announced to prepare. We invested in the team, reviewed menus, built stock, and looked for efficiencies so we could focus on our customers, anticipating that we would get quite busy.
The introduction to Square was an unexpected benefit - we took a close look at their hardware and software and realised that we could save about £5,000 a year by switching. Having our POS integrated with staff scheduling has simplified systems and allows us to monitor live labour spend - more important now than ever if operators want to make any money.
Switching POS is a big undertaking, but the Square onboarding team helped us through the process. The hardware looks great and still attracts compliments from customers. The combination of lower monthly fees and very competitive card rates has definitely had a positive financial impact over the last eight months."
Get in touch with Square to make the switch
