Sweet Mandarin is a restaurant run by three sisters from a family of women restaurateurs.

Their family origins began in 1950 when Lily Kwok (grandmother) started off as a maid for a high powered English family. She courageously traveled from Hong Kong to the UK on a ship - a journey that lasted over 30 days. During that time she created her recipes and learnt how to make amazing flavours aboard this ship which docked at each port along the journey of East to West.

She served a family called The Woodmans who treated her like family and left her a small sum of money after Mrs Woodman’s death. It was with that seed capital that she started her first restaurant in 1950's Middleton. Lily Kwok touched thousands of the locals in Middleton with her food and sauces even serving the likes of Cliff Richard, The Shadows and The Beatles! Lily Kwok's heritage will continue through her grand-daughter Lisa Tse who is the CEO of Sweet Mandarin and SM Sauces.

Sweet Mandarin was set up in 2004. The concept of the restaurant being a family style home cooking in a modern calming setting. Sweet Mandarin restaurant is designed with floor to ceiling glass windows and wengi wood furniture to give it a relaxing ambience.