Northern Chinese Fare

Asian Legend is one of the restaurants I frequent most often in Toronto these days. Affordable and very tasty Northern Chinese cusine is served in a clean and modern dining area. The downtown location on Dundas St. has private room for party functions.

Make sure to order the xiaolongbao - steamed dumplings filled with pork and crab - don’t break the skin and lose the soup!, deep fried tofu, wontons in a peanut sauce, pan fried pork dumplings, green onion pancakes, spare ribs with vegetables, shanghai fried noodles, and szechuan string beans. If you have a larger group, try the Peking Duck – it is usually quite good, but order extra wraps – there aren’t usually enough to go around in a regular order. The warm red bean and black sesame seed desserts are also very good.

Service is usually efficient, fast, and not especially rude (by Chinese restaurant standards), and the three locations I’ve visited have line ups during the dinner and lunch hour. It is great Value For Money (VFM) – it is hard to spend more than $20 per person for dinner, not including drinks.

If you plan on making Asian Legend one of your regular restaurant stops, purchase a $10 frequent eating card – this gets you a 10% discount every visit, and is valid for a year.

If you are in the Highway 7 and Woodbine Avenue area, Ding Tai Fung is a good alternative, offering high quality xiaolongbao and similar Northern fare. I would even think the dumplings are a little better in terms of size and taste compared with Asian Legend. However, finding a parking spot remotely near the restaurant is a challenge at the best of times. Also, be prepared to wait for a table - line ups are often out the door.