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Leong's Legends
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© Ed Marshall
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By Charmaine Mok
There’s something conspiratorial about the whole thing. Just when you thought the Chinatown dining scene was torpid, two outstanding restaurants – first Baozi Inn, and now Leong’s Legends, both boasting relatively unknown regional cooking – burst on to the scene with the stealth and cunning of bandits. Which, if you think about it, is a fitting metaphor for the title of this Taiwanese newcomer.
The name refers to the popular classical Chinese novel ‘The Water Margin’, which revolves around the rebel Song Jiang and his 107 comrades (sometimes referred to as ‘Liang’s legends’) who rise up against a corrupt government during the Song dynasty, while taking refuge on Mount Liang (aka Leong).
Appropriately, the decor seems to pay homage to the ancient street-side teahouses popular with both heroes and vagabonds in such stories, often glamorised in modern Chinese dramas as drinking dens where coups were planned and plots imagined. Wooden screens create intimacy throughout the room, and fellow diners seemed to melt into the shadows; only a single low-lying lamp floats above each table, perhaps serving to highlight the most important aspect of the whole shebang – the food.
The menu is impressive, but for those expecting an exclusively Taiwanese menu, take heed: there are plenty of dishes drawn in from outside the island, though that’s not necessarily a bad thing. A dish in the style of wind shelter bay crab is a mighty delectable, spicy, garlic-heavy dish with its origins in the fishing boats moored in the typhoon shelters of Hong Kong, while pork slices with minced garlic and chilli (suan ni bai rou) is a cold appetiser from Sichuan province. A lot is also lost in translation. Fairly bog-standard 'stir-fried chicken with rice wine, soy sauce and sesame oil' is a famous Taiwanese dish esoterically called ‘three cups’ chicken (san bei ji), because the recipe calls for one cup of each condiment for its distinctive taste. A clay pot of tender chicken pieces came bathed in a rich dark caramel-coloured sauce, spiked with chillies and, surprisingly, a liquorice aroma from star anise.
However, fried oysters wrapped with egg, a staple street food famously found in the bustling night markets of Taipei but few places in London, is a moist omelette filled with succulent, briney baby oysters and pungent but tender stalks of garland chrysanthemum; here, the dish was competently cooked and true to the original. Likewise, a basket of steaming xiao long bao (soup-filled dumplings) were, flavour-wise, one of the best we’ve had in the capital. It was only let down by craftsmanship – instead of neat little pleats (and, if you believe the connoisseurs, a true dumpling master manages exactly 18 of them in each), the tops of the dumplings were stodgy and looked liked melted versions of a more perfect specimen, and the skins lacked the elasticity to prevent unfortunate splits. Still, the filling was perfectly seasoned, and the savoury, steaming-hot broth hit the palate with a flavour that the Chinese refer to simply and literally as ‘fresh, sweet’.
We found the service slow and dippy, the manager was brusque and the service charge was somewhat ambiguously described as ‘SC’ – and, to add insult to injury, on one visit our waitress asked if we’d ‘like to add a gratuity’ (on top of the ‘SC’, that is). But we found the food on our visits exciting – and, most importantly, different from anything else out there. It’s about time there was a rebellion.Time Out Issue 1981: August 7 -13
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Time Out reviews restaurants anonymously and pays for meals. Of course, we cannot guarantee the accuracy or independence of user reviews.
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Went to the Lisle St version.
Was pretty busy, as you'd expect for 8.30 on a Saturday night, but we were seated after a few minutes. Bit cramped but decor and tables were very cosy...and atmosphere was bustling without feeling rowdy.
Service was friendly and prompt, but didn't feel hurried.
We didn't have starters... my belly pork rice was delicious, not dry and a nicerice combo. We also went for the classic chili shredded beef, which was nicely done too.
My wife had a lovely gingery sea bass dish with a separate rice bowl.
A quick meal for: 30 quid for 2 with drinks. Was enough for pre-clubbing sustenance, but will maybe go for some soupy dimsum stuff or noodle dish as well next time... super stuff!!
This is the message for TOMMO, you said
'You pleople giving this place one star better go back to your bacon and egg rolls and bangers and mash!!', well, I am Taiwanese and I gave no star, do I go back to my authentic and really very tasty Taiwanese cusine?? :-)
Being Taiwanese, I found the whole dinning experience was very disappointing. Went to Leong's Legends Continues yesterday late afternoon, on the door, it suggested 2:30-5:30pm they offer 30% discount, we were seated by 5:15pm, I enquired about the discount and was informed it was finished. Fist impression, very unenthusiastic and unfriendly waitresses, strange layout of the seats, we ordered 4 dishes and one never came (Could not believe they didn't notice considering it was very quiet), food was very average, I believe every restaurants in Chinatown could provide decent cooking. I had oyster congee, the oysters were over-cooked, not fresh enough and very dull in taste. The bill was very weird also; they didn't even show the break-down cost, only gave you the total amount on the top so we had no idea whether service charge was included. My partner was very generous and still left 10% tips. I am a most laid-back person in the world so it was not in my nature to complain, but being Taiwanese I feel it’s my responsibility to tell everybody what is really is.
We gave it another go yesterday for lunch but it was just totally disappointing. When it first open, it used to be really good and the best dishes were the steam soup dumplings. The skin used to be just right, not too thick and not thin. But when we tried that again yesterday, it was just way too thick. The best steam soup dumplings are meant to have just thick enough skin to hold the soup and not break when picked up but it is meant to have think soft skin. The skin looked and tasted thick. And then we had this noodle soup but the noodles wasn't even cooked enough so it was hard and indigestable. The seaweed wrap sticky rice with prawn was also hard and dry. Besides the soya bean drink, everything was a total disappointment. We will not go back anymore.
Horrible meal in Leong Legend today, 'lamb fillet' was disgustingly gelatinous mutton fat welded to small bones in a thin, over oily broth. Too many staff not paying attention to the customers.
I love this place, im from Australia and have struggled to find decent chineese/vietnameese/ ect food thats cheap. Been to this place like 4 times and have tried loads of dishes i only didnt like one but ordering Duck tounges was always gonna be weird.. otherwise the everything has been awsome.
You pleople giving this place one star better go back to your bacon and egg rolls and bangers and mash!!
the Kung Pao chicken is fantastic, just dont eat the chillies they are a garnish :)
will definitly return!
Had late lunch at "Leong's Legends Continue" today, service was all right as it wasn't too busy.
However, I was quite disappointed with the quality of food esp. with all the fuss about the Pork Dumpling (the one which has a lot of juice inside the wrapping). The meat was very blend though the wrapping was thin and nice.
However, I tried the wonton in spicy sauce, it's the worst ever!!! I went to Taipei before, and had loads of fantastic taiwanese food. But the wonton in spicy sauce was a joke. First, the size is pretty much 1cm diameter which is hardly a wonton. No shrimp nor much meat at all. The wrapping was even chewy, it's scary!!! Had the thousand years egg with tofu, again, it's just so so...
Definitely won't go back!
Ate at "Leong's Legends" and at the sister restaurant "Leong's Legends continute..."a couple of times now.
After reading all the reviews I would like to say four things:
1. Service is friendly for china town standards and is actually decent even for normal restaurants.
2. The food is not blend at all, compared with about 20 other restaurants in china town, that I have eaten at. I can say that Leongs and Bazoi Inn are hands down the best restaurants.
I recommend the Ling Bao Dumplings, spicy wontons, szechuan pork noodles.
Some dishes are a bit odd i.e. ginger chicken. Still none of them are disgusting or not tasty.
Since I have not been to Taiwan I can not judge how close it is to the original cuisine, but I understand there are three types hakka, taiwanese and a mix cuisine. Maybe it is one of the less commonly cooked on the island.
3. The prices are very reasonable and therefore I have to say the portions are adequate!
4. Please try to include helpful options in your reviews, what restaurant is better in china town?
thanks for reading this. a chinese lover
I LOVE this place....reasonably priced, great service, yummy food, lovely ambience if you like a dimly lit low-key setting. Try the Taiwanese beef noodles soup - in fact the list could go on as I haven't yet tried anything that I didn't like yet. Only thing is that it's a small venue so ideally go with 2-4 people. You won't be disappointed!
I am Taiwanese and I'd love to see more GENUINE Taiwanese restaurants in London. Modern Taiwanese food is not only tasty but also healthier(less salt & oil used, for example).
I and my friends have just been to Leong's Legends last month. Their “Siu Loung Bao(soup dumpling)” was indeed very good but the ginger in the soy sauce should be chopped much finer.
Their “Sticky Rice with Shredded Pork” was not bad. On the other hand, “Diced Beef with Garlic Slices” was too dry. The natural flavor of beef was covered up by the spices and eventually none existent.
We also tried Steamed Bamboo Rice which was made in Cantonese style rather than Taiwanese and tragically far too wet. “Yen Sue Jee (Deep Fried Chicken)” - arguably the most typical Taiwanese snack in night markets - was not at all Taiwanese! The size of the diced chicken, the seasoning, the color of the batter and its side dish were all misleading. Please do try it when you visit Taiwan!
“Leong's Legends” actually refers to a CHINESE novel, “Water Margin”, which was written in 12th century. No wonder both its décor and much of the food are CHINESE, as the name of the restaurant already suggests.