Showing posts with label peking duck. Show all posts
Showing posts with label peking duck. Show all posts

Asian Legend 味香村 (Scarborough)

Posted on Saturday, September 27, 2014 by
Location: Toronto, Canada
Address: 4452 Sheppard Avenue East
Website: http://www.asianlegend.ca/
Type of Meal: Dinner


Asian Legend is a chain specializing in Northern Chinese dishes. They’ve been around for over 20 years – likely thanks to their reasonable prices and extensive menu. In my books, they are not known to be the “best” for anything; you can get better Peking duck or stir fried dishes at other places. But, their dishes are consistent and they are always a decent version of it (I have never had a horrible one).

A popular dish is the steamed soup filled dumplings with ground pork ($5.96 for 6). Asian Legend’s is good but eat them quickly as the wrapper can sometimes split if left too long. Each dumplings holds a fair amount of soup and the dough is thin enough.


Their chicken potstickers ($4.95 for four) is a nice change from the typical pork ones. With diced black mushrooms mixed throughout there’s a bit of a contrasting texture. Although it’s not as juicy, the wrapper does seem crispier with a beautiful developed crust.

My aunt likes the rolled onion pancake with sliced beef ($5.95; two orders shown below). Personally, I prefer the green onion pancake plain. Normally, it’s pan fried so a nice crust develops and contrasts against the soft inside while making the green onion taste more pronounced. Whereas, in the wrap it’s not pan fried and thus seems a little plain. Plus, I find the beef a bit dry – not my favourite but plenty of people order it.


With a variety of cold appetizers to choose from, with larger groups we order the preserved pork ($6.95). The meat is shredded, well salted and then mixed into a savoury gelatin.  Once cooled and solidified it is sliced. It can be eaten plain or dipped into the Chinese vinegar which accompanies it. I prefer the version where the pork is compressed on the bottom and the gelatin is on top (forming two layers), but Asian Legend’s isn’t bad either.


The freshly made Taiwanese street-style deep fried tofu with garlic sauce ($3.95; two orders shown below) was delicious. I know, you may be thinking … tofu really? But it’s the combination of the crispy crust, soft airy inside and flavourful sweet soy sauce that makes it great for snacking on.


Like most places, the Peking duck ($34.95) is served two ways. With plenty of wraps (about fourteen), the main dish is wrapping the crispy pieces of skin into a thin flour crepe. I like to slather on the hoisin sauce, cucumbers and green onions, while others may like it plain. Asian Legend’s Peking duck could use more flavour as I found the skin and meat by itself was rather bland.


The second dish is simply the remaining carcass chopped into pieces; unfortunately, not the most photogenic. There is the option to pay $8.95 and have the second dish as lettuce wraps, sautéed duck with vegetables or as a soup but we prefer to keep it simple. Plus, since we also ordered moo shu pork, no more wrapping dishes were required.

The moo shu pork ($10.95) arrives with six pancakes ($0.60/each for extra wraps). It’s one of my favourite dishes from Asian Legend. There’s a great combination of crunchy textures from the black fungus, napa cabbage and bamboo shoots. Plus, the scrambled egg works well at soaking up the various juices. All wrapped into a thin crepe with hoisin sauce this is full of flavour.


We normally don’t order the shredded chicken noodle soup ($7.95) but seemed to be a good choice for my grandmother. The noodles are doughy, soft and soaks in the thick flavourful soup. Simply accompanied with pieces of chicken and Shanghai bok choy it’s decent but not really a must-have dish.


A noodle in soup we order often is the braised beef noodles ($8.95). The dish is aromatic and although the broth looks like simple soy sauce there’s a much richer taste to it. Asian Legend’s version of this dish is decent and the beef tender and excellent quality. The chunks of pickled preserved vegetables on top are also a nice addition.


If you want a starchy dish try the stir fried Shanghai rice cakes ($10.95). It is traditional yet not normally found outside of Northern Chinese restaurants. The rice cakes are nothing like the light styrofoam version found in the chip aisle, rather they have a soft chewy texture. Stir fried with pork, shrimp, napa cabbage and a light sauce it’s well worth trying.


The Shanghai noodles with seafood ($11.95) is a safe crowd friendly dish. The thick yellow noodles are soft with a slight bite to it. Mixed throughout are crunchy bean sprouts, shrimp, scallop and a simple soy sauce. Asian Legend’s is fine but needs to be cooked longer to develop that wonderful wok essence.


Wanting some vegetables, we order the sautéed water spinach with fermented tofu and shredded chili ($10.95). In my Day and Day Soup review I’ve wrote a bit about this hollow vegetable and condiments if you want a further description. Overall, it’s an average version of the dish and could benefit from more fermented tofu.




If you plan on visiting regularly, their VIP membership ($20) could be a good investment. Valid for a year, it can be used at the time of purchase providing card holders 10% off food items.  Additionally, you earn points that can be used for future purchases. As they were celebrating an anniversary, I even received a coupon for a surprise gift. Now that I’m a “VIP” cardholder, who knows I may be returning more often.


Overall mark - 7.5 out of 10
Follow me on twitter to chat, be notified about new posts and more - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog

 ____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System
  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!



CLOSED: Dayali Beijing Roast Duck 大鴨梨 (Markham)

Posted on Sunday, September 15, 2013 by

Location: Markham, Canada
Address: 20 Gibson Drive
Type of Meal: Dinner

I had high hopes for Dayali given the accolades it received from local food critics - #82 on Joanne Kate’s top 100 restaurants of 2013 and the Globe’s 10 best places for Chinese food in Toronto.  So, I dutifully rounded up five individuals so a reservation could be made avoiding their notorious wait times (minimum of six people required). 

Dayali is the Canadian outpost of a popular Beijing based chain. Located in a Markham strip mall, the interior is surprisingly spacious, bright and decorated in a contemporary manner.  With soaring ceilings, the surroundings would have been more comfortable if there was better ventilation and the air conditioning was higher. Surprisingly, their service was efficient and pleasant – quite professional compared to most Chinese restaurants.

Of course, we couldn’t visit without ordering their star dish… the gold medal roast duck ($38.88); their menu also offers a Peking style roast duck ($31.88).  Our waiter explained that the gold medal roast duck is a better quality and “specially selected” and more ingredients accompany it. We were sold and opted for the gold medal version with extra wraps (or on their menu called blinis) ($3.99).
The ingredients arrive in a tower with the wrappers held in a warmer in the middle.  At the top, a small dish of crispy duck skin perches meant to be a starter and eaten without wrappers.  Most people dip it in the sugar, sauce or spicy salt included in the tower; it's an opportunity to just enjoy the duck. Without any meat or fat, this skin only piece is crispy with an oily ting, a good start in warming up the palette for things to come.



Afterwards, a second larger dish of duck skin (this time with meat) is brought out for wrapping.  All in all, it wasn’t bad – the duck skin was crispy enough, wrappers nice and thin and loved the different ingredients.  Other than the typical green onions, cucumber and hoisin sauce, there were also sweet red grapes and potato chip sticks (think Hickory Sticks without the smoke).  My husband and I both enjoyed the addition of potato chips; the grapes on the other hand is an acquired taste.  

 I was disappointed with the duck meat – it lacked flavor, was a tad dry and crumbled apart from the skin when you tried to pick it up. Unless enough hoisin sauce was placed, the wrap would be pretty bland. Dayali’s duck wasn’t the worse I’ve ever had but still, it doesn't deserve the title as best – in my books Chung King Garden Restaurant provides a competitive offering.

You may find the skin not to be as crispy as other restaurants, this is because Dayali strictly just roasts the duck.  Some other restaurants will flash fry the skin prior to serving making it very crunchy.  Meanwhile, while most restaurants serve their duck two ways, at Dayali you only have the option of adding $2.88 to make the duck bones into soup. If you opt out, the carcass will arrive in a plastic bag at the end of the meal to go.

My husband was excited to see the gold medal sliced boiled fish in chili oil ($19.99) on the menu as he had a great experience with it at another restaurant.  I’ll admit the fish has a delicate smooth texture and despite the amount of chili included, if you don’t actually eat the peppers it’s not overly spicy.  But, it's harder to get past the fact that it was literally sitting in a pot of oil and had to be drained before eating. Plus, it was really annoying to have to pick out all the small pieces of pepper to avoid the sting.
Other items we tried were carb based Shanghai style dishes.  My favourite of the night was the pan fried pancakes with stuffing ($7.99).  Arriving piping hot with a crunchy crust and chewy dough it was lovely.  The “stuffing” is really the same pork mixture used in dumplings, smeared in a thin layer on the pancake, adding a nice juiciness to the roll.
The pot stickers ($6.99) were decent and tasted homemade.  They were very similar in flavor to the pan fried pancakes with stuffing, so really you may just want one.  The pancakes, in this case, were better given its use of seasoning. 
Lastly, were the spicy cold mixed noodles ($4.99) consisting of cold chow mein egg noodles topped with a spicy bean & pork mixture and cucumber slivers.  This offered a welcomed coolness in the hot restaurant. But, as a warning, it’s spicy and I found the dish's entire flavor was masked by the chili oil. Additionally, Dayali should consider serving it in a larger dish given it's difficult to mix up in the small serving plate.     
The prices listed above are regular menu prices. Diners also have the option to purchase a VIP membership card for $20 providing holders with a reduced price (typically about $2 per dish) and is valid for three years.  We opted not to purchase the membership, as although the experience was decent, there are so many other options around Toronto that gives me my duck fix. 

Overall mark - 6 out of 10


Like the blog? You can now follow me on twitter for notifications - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog

 ____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System
  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!

Is That It? I Want More!

Other Gastro World posts similar to this:


CLOSED: Chung King Garden Restaurant 北來順京川飯店 (Markham)

Posted on Saturday, January 12, 2013 by
Location: Markham, Canada
Address: 4394 Steeles Avenue East (at Market Village)
Type of Meal: Dinner 

 Having had a lot of Peking duck in my lifetime, I was skeptical when I heard Chung King serves an amazing version of it. But, I stand corrected - it is one of the best the city has to offer. 

We ordered the two course Peking duck dish ($38.96).  The first course is Peking duck skin with wraps.


  • The duck itself is very crispy, it must have been fried after roasting to get it to that texture.  For me, I found the duck a bit dry since the one we were served was very lean.  I prefer there to be a thin sliver of fat under the skin to really bring out the duck flavour and keep the meat moist. On a second visit it was better, albeit still leaner than most, so really depends on the duck being served.  But, with a generous amount of hoisin sauce and adding cucumber to the wrap, the dryness can be masked.
  • The crepes which the duck is wrapped in was the highlight for me.  Too often the wraps are too small (leading to a messy dining experience), too thick (makes you think you're having a duck bun) or too floury (causing the wrapper to break).  At Chung King the wrappers are perfect - paper thin, slightly bigger in size than a side plate and a chewy texture that doesn't break when pulled and wrapped.  The chef who makes the wrap is talented.

For the second course, the duck meat is removed, chopped and stir fried with vegetables and small pieces of deep fried rice noodles.  The mixture is served with pieces of lettuce for the patron to make wraps.  Surprisingly, the duck meat was moist in this dish and all the meat and vegetables chopped into small pieces to provide a taste of everything with each bite.  The vegetables and crispy lettuce were refreshing after having the heavy Peking duck wrap.


Our waitress also suggested we try the Sichuan shredded beef ($10.96) which are lightly coated pieces of deep fried beef stir fried in a spicy sweet sauce.  The dish was a hit with our table and very flavourful; the sauce wasn't overly thick and there was just enough of it to add some heat and sweetness.  



 Thankfully, this complemented well with the bland pork fried rice ($7.96), the chef must have forgotten to add salt, which was not memorable and won't be reordered on our next visit. On another visit we tried the house special fried noodles (I believe was $10.96) and the flavour was better but the noodles were much too mushy.




To balance the meat and carbs we had an order of garlic stir fried snow pea shoots ($14.96).  Note, the picture below is actually from Sam Woo BBQ restaurant and not Chung King, but they all basically look the same wherever you go.  If you've never tried snow pea shoots you have should definitely order it next time you're in a Chinese restaurant.  It's generally not found on the menu as historically the vegetable has been seasonal.  But, with greater imports and greenhouse production, you can now find it year round. 

 The leaves are delicate and soft while the vines itself add a crispy refreshing texture.  The vegetable has a very subtle pea taste and lends itself to pair well with whatever's added to flavour it.
Garlic fried snow pea shoot (1)

 To end, the restaurant offered complementary bowls of sweet red bean soup for dessert, which was unfortunately disappointing - too watery and not sweet enough. 

Overall, compared to most Chinese restaurants the service was polite and helpful.  We will definitely be coming back for the great meat dishes.


Overall mark - 8 out of 10

____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System
  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!
Photo Sources:
  1. Garlic fried snow pea shoots pictured is actually from Sam Woo BBQ - Yelp (http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/sam-woo-barbecue-restaurant-san-gabriel-2?start=100#-o6vVYlU_-RjRxCUUrhNkQ)

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)