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.
