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Asian Legend
Rating Details »
Neighbourhood: Chinatown
418 Dundas St W
Toronto, ON M5T 1G7
(416) 977-3909
418 Dundas St W
Toronto, ON M5T 1G7
(416) 977-3909
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- No
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good for:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
14 reviews for Asian Legend
From the inside you would never know that you were in Chinatown..really sleek and minimal. As you've read...you write your order down on a piece of paper and voila your food arrives promptly.
I won't go into great detail about the food except to say that it was all excellent. We had the soup dumplings with pork, scallops, and few other ingredients that I can't remember at the moment. My wife had the crispy noodles with vegetables. We're really sad that we don't have a place like this back home...great food at a good value.
I have to do another top notch review because i went here again and i STILL love it. I lov eit so much I would even go alone and order an unrealistic amount of food just so I could take it home.
For those of you who dont' realize, this is the ONLY good chinese food I have ever had in Toronto- and that's sayin' SOMEthin cuz I come from Vancouver.
there is nothing bad on the menu and this is the only place I trust to take any friends who are in the mood for chinese food. Everyone I bring here adores the food and then comes back time and time again to introduce it to other people.
soooo good.
I go here at least once a month so I'm not new to this restaurant. I love thier steamed pork soup dumplings, they're always made fresh and come out steaming hot so watch out, or they'll burn your lips!! They're always so juicy and flavourful! I love this restaurant! Good food and quick service! They even have a see through screen that shows people making the dumplings fresh. I also love their chunky beef noodles!! It's soo tasty!!
LOVE LOVE LOVE this restaurant!
In spite of everything I've heard about Asian Legend, I was less-than-impressed with my experience here. We got a mango chicken dish with bok choy and pork. Pretty underwhelming especially considering our monster wait time. I was told my experience was due largely to the fact that I didn't bring Asian friends. That doesn't make any G-D sense.
Obligatory Title Pun: LEGENDARY let down.
Menu readability: I honestly can't remember.
Need to mention: Cool decor and atmosphere. The only let down was the food.
What this place teaches me about myself: I need more Asian friends.
I had recalled that Asian cuisine in Toronto was top notch from a trip during school over 10 years ago. On this return trip, I was happy to see it was still the case.
Asian Legend, located in the Chinatown area of Toronto is a perfect example of this top notch cuisine. Having eaten in Hong Kong, China, Vancouver, San Francisco, and LA, I have certain expectations when it comes to Chinese food and flavor. Asian Legend met them and in some cases exceeded those expectations.
The decor is modern and really belies it's Chinatown location. But the diverse menu, friendly prices, and casual service remind you that this gem really is in Chinatown next to many 1 star locales.
Our choices:
Crab meat and pork soup dumplings - excellent. The crab meat and pork were both very distinct and very fresh. The dumpling skins were a tad thicker than many places, but there was plenty of soup in each one.
Crab meat and fish maw soup - a large bowl of soup came out piping hot. Not as much crab meat as I expected, but reasonable given the low price.
Lobster e fu mein - a huge lobster accompanied the e-fu noodles. At least three large claws were present and the flavor was wonderful. The noodles were a bit dry though and could have used more lobster sauce. Overall, a huge portion for the price.
Asian Legend accepts credit cards, but not American Express.
Best Chinese food I've had in years! The atmosphere was nice the green tea delicious and the food quite good.
Let me first tell you the determination it took for me to eat here. The night before my boyfriend told me he wanted to leave early the next morning to drive home so I tried looking up the restaurant hours online and it could not be found so I figured most restaurants open after 10am. We got there exactly at 10am the next morning and it was still closed as were most of the other restaurants in Chinatown. I wasn't giving up without eating dim sum in Toronto before driving back so I walked up and down the street asking random chinese people what time most restaurants open on sundays using my elementary level chinese skills :)
No one seemed to know so I went to the internet cafe across the street to speak to the employee on duty and he also did not know what time it opened and was extremely puzzled why someone would have to eat specifically at Asian Legend when he could recommend other restaurants down the street that were opened. I wanted to call Asian Legend hoping the hours would be recorded on the answering machine but my phone internet doesn't work in Canada so asked if I could buy like 5 min internet time at the internet cafe. The guy was really nice and let me use his own computer and when I called Asian Legend they picked up and told me they were opened?! I was like umm I was just outside and he told me he was on the way to open the door as we speak.
So now that I've wasted a half hour and my boyfriend is irritated waiting in the car we go inside and my boyfriend is expecting this place better be no less than amazing. I ordered soup dumplings, jelly fish, deep fried tofu, red bean pancake and the waiter recommended this onion/beef fried pancake which was very good. The fried tofu and pancakes were my favorite picks and we had some pancakes leftover for our long drive back.
My boyfriend and I were both very happy we got to eat here.
Wait!
We can review in Canada!!! Yay! I wonder if I can start reviewing in the UK...
Asian Legend Rocks... It's definitely got a more northern flair, compared to the ubiquitous cantonese dimsum in Toronto. For a chinese restaurant to survive in Toronto, you've got to be relatively good -- none of that, "I moved to north america and need to make ends meet, so I'll just fire up a wok, and use internet recipes --"
So, try out the XLBs, the chive dumplings, the dan dan noodles. Shanghai chic in North America. Come to think of it... I need to go A.S.A.P!
Good: The menu had a pretty large variety of dishes from traditional northern Chinese breakfast foods (onion pancake, shao long bao, etc) to some pretty decent main dishes. The restaurant is pretty non-Asian friendly because of the menu being in Chinese and English and all the employees being able to speak English.
Bad: The price was higher than most in Chinatown and the dishes were not 100% authentic tasting but good enough.
Okay...so being Chinese it is tough to admit a chain place can produce some quality food but I'm never disappointed.
Consistent, well portioned and tasty. Easily one of the best options in Chinatown. The soup dumplings, surimir with broccoli and pork belly are delicious.
I have been to Asian Legend many times (mostly at their Hwy 7 and Leslie location) and have never been dissapointed. Their food is different than most chinese restaurants you will go to and I find that their food can be described as a bit of `modern chinese` (this coming from a gwai-loh so I might not know what I`m talking about haha)
The atmosphere of the restaurant is always lively and they have a lot of waiters to take care of your needs. Going in big groups is always recommended as that way you can share and sample a lot of their food (they have a lot of food selection).
Must Have`s:
- Soup-filled dumplings - absolutely amazing!
- Most of their soups, I generally don`t like soup but they just have such unique tastes
ABSOLUTE must-have:
- Red bean Pancake - one of the best desserts ever!!
All in all, I don`t think you will be dissapointed with what Asian Legend will serve you, they have a lot of locations all around Toronto so definitely try them out. They have started to grow a lot recently and it is obvious why.
I was brought to Asian Legend by my Asian roommate and her family for Chinese New Year (my new favourite food holiday). As my roommate would say, "If there are a lot of Chinese people inside, it's good". Since this location in Chinatown is frequented by a lot of tourists, they weren't all Asian. But the food was SOOOO good.
This place isn't your typical Spadina greasy spoon. The décor is really classy and everything inside is so pretty! And the food. The food is really really good. Having grown up in Scarborough I consider myself to be somewhat of a Chinese food connoisseur and this place passed my stringent test (of food being delicious and not too greasy). I remember ordering about 8 dishes between the group of us and everything being amazing. In particular the Chinese Broccoli and their fried rice seemed to be far tastier than anything I had had elsewhere.
I did see that their menu offered dim sum and was intrigued -- now that I know it's good, I will totally come back and try it!
This place has become a larger chain, I know there is one location at Leslie & Finch and a new one just opened at Brimley & Sheppard. Totally worth checking out if you love Chinese food but don't always want the plastic tablecloth atmosphere.
It is probably the most successful chain of Chinese restaurants in the GTA area.
But once a upon time, Asian Legend used to be....
Well - really it was food court oddity on north side of Dundas, west of Spadina in a dingy place I think was called Hong Kong City? It moved to its current location and was pretty much one of the only places to get good inexpensive Northern Chinese food. Was the best place to just get a few pan-fried dumplings, a fried salty donut and a bowl of hot soy milk in relative peace at any given time. Then the renovation happened. Then the food became more expensive (on average each dish was at least $1-$2 more), the service worse, and I could never get a seat.
If you regularly patronize Asian restaurants whatsoever, you'll notice this phenomena happen to genuinely good restaurants that are now being run by second generation MBA graduate children of the owners. Please accuse me of being bitter of its success and the resulting effect being that I can't get a seat at the more expensive, worst tasting restaurant, that I helped keep afloat for 10+ yrs., because I am. In fact, my friends know exactly I why mean, when I say a restaurant has been "Legended".
But certainly some credit is due - they still make some decent dumplings and have standard good Northern dishes. Avoid all pan-Asian items (their valiant attempt to capture some of that Spring Rolls crowd) - and stick with the Chinese food. Does anybody really think that mango grows in Northern China? I think they are definitely overextending here. Certainly something has to be said for the restaurant raising the standard of cleanliness and presentation - kudos.
[Totally irrelevant observation: what's with their actual dishes and cutlery - I don't know any Chinese people who use square dishes with FOUR sides, I wonder who they're catering to? Hint: It's not your friendly neighbourhood Chinaman!]
Definitely a legendary story of expanding your market and brilliant management, but as a food story, not so much.
I love Chinese food, and I have eaten it in many places, including renowned restaurants in NYC when I once lived there, and Asian Legend's dim sum is as good as any I have ever had. Another plus is that the decor is very nice as well. If I lived in Toronto, this place would get a lot of my money.
Make sure to try the beef wrapped in a scallion pancake. It was absolutely amazing. The soup dumplings were great as well.
