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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
See also
- London's best cheap eats
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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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.
The food maybe ok but the service was the worse I have ever experienced!
1. The waiter who delivered the drinks didn't even know what the drinks were
2. The customers next to us, paid the right amount but waiter insisted they paid less that what's on the bill. He was so loud that almost half of the restaurant could hear, only to find out later he was wrong but the customer was right.
3. They took away the dishes without asking if we had finished, and when everything was taken away, we wanted to ask for a menu for dessert, but instead they gave as a bill. Just 3 minutes after the bill arrived (we just want to finish the drinks) a waiter come and said ' look at the queue, could you please hurry up!' how rude!!!!!!
That's totally unacceptable. Never go there. It was horrible!
1 star is already too much imo
I chanced upon Leong's with my friends a couple of days back. The food was at best average but I must say that it is somewhat refreshing to have Chinese food, which is non-Cantonese.
Although the service staff is generally pleasant, the head waiter, the only guy there who greets people at the door is really rude and brash. The irony is that he is a Cantonese.
Will I return again? Well, only if the guy isn't there.
i've been to this restaurant 3 times personally, and my close friends have been numerous times and found this restaurant to be excellent! the food is the best me & my friends have had in a long long while in china town, and speaking especially so, as we are all chinese and know the food at leongs is authentic and so tasty!
i hope leong's stays around for a long long time, the food is so so good, and taste exactly like food we get back home in china & hong kong!
dreadful!
I had chicken with ginger which was an awful soupy thing, with bits of gristly meat that was hardly identifiable as chicken! the bamboo rice had a horrid chemical taste to it. the dim sum were acceptable, but the whole thing was hugely disappointing. avoid!
I am from Taiwan. The food does not taste Taiwanese at all. The so-called fried oysters are supposed to be fried with cornflour with egg on top. It is supposed to be stir-fried with Pai Choi instead of spring onions.
I am sure you can try out xiao long bao in any other dim sum places.
Shame on them for such small portions. £2 for a spoonful of white steam rice. Taste was average, & service not fantastic. If you compare this to the worst food in Chinatown, then yes, this is alright. You will need to order a lot of dishes to be full.
What a shame - I went there with high expectations (always a mistake). After cajoling somebody to serve me I was told the lunch was finished (half an hour to go by my watch but there you go). The two dishes I ordered were both very average (better than the worst chinese style restaurants but really mediocre - more pingpong than orange sweet and sour sauce - still pretty poor) and the third came as something else (I thought these 'turnip cakes' were a free appetiser non descript as they were). Unfortunately when I realsied this I had to reorder what I wanted 40 minutes in. Persuading them to serve drinks was also difficult despite the sheer amount of staff in such a small place.
So not rubbish, but not a very good experience or dinner. A shame - I wanted to enjoy it as much as the review suggested.If you are reading this at leongs - please try harder!!!
Try making the trip to Dragon Castle in Elephant & Castle instead - its worth it.
Having read the review I was really excited to go here, but the food was so average. Incredibly bland and uninspiring. Typical Chinatown service to match. Don't bother.
I was very disappointed by the food. The portion is extremely small and the taste is very bland. Coming from Taiwan, I cannot find anything in this restaurant that remotely similar to what I had at home.
It was shocking to read the above good reviews. To be honest it is really below China town average standard and it is not real Chinese at all.