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| - We pulled up into this little plaza around midday on a Saturday. Asian Legend is the newcomer joining the same strip as two existing restaurants - an Italian place, and the family-favourite, Congee Star.
It was clear from the large flower arrangements and well wishes written on red paper just inside the door that this location hadn't been open for very long. While I haven't visited any other Asian Legends, I thought the decor of this one was spot on. Dark wood paneling and geometric light fixtures gave the feeling that this joint was one step up from the bright, bustling Star next door. We got seated very quickly, most likely because there were only two other diners in the huge, brand spanking new place. Clearly not everyone had gotten the memo yet. I'm a fan of the spacious circular booths that occupied one side of the restaurant, and for those with larger parties, I did spy a few private dining rooms towards the back.
Our waiter was fluent in both Cantonese and English, if that sort of thing matters to you. The menus are also fully bilingual. Asian Legend offers a healthy selection of dim sum a la carte, not unlike next door, but with a greater variety of your not-so-typical snack fare. We opted for the
Steamed Soup Filled Dumplings with Dried Scallops, Pork, and Luffa ($6.95), Steamed Shumai with Shrimp and Pork ($5.95), and Pork Potstickers ($4.95). I'd definitely recommend the soup dumplings if you want some warming up, the way they incorporated veggies into the wrapper to make it green is a nice visual touch as well. I also enjoyed the potstickers, which are nice and big, hard to go wrong with these.
We also tried the Drunken Chicken (6.95) as a cold app, and the white wine they marinated it in made for a nice, refreshing small dish. I have to note, our food all came at an impressively fast speed, despite the argument that there weren't very many customers. My favourite entrée was the Sautéed Lamb Sirloin with Green Onions on Sizzling Hot Plate ($15.95), which was really tender and flavourful. The House Special Fried Rice ($11.95) we got with it was pretty typical, nothing really made it stand out. Portion-wise, it was smaller than what we would've been served at Congee Star, but it was also more mild, missing the strong soy sauce taste that's pretty common with these dishes.
While my hopes generally aren't very high for desserts at Chinese restaurants , I did want to finish our meal off with something sweet. The Mango Pudding ($3.95) and Soybean pudding with Peanuts ($3.95) were both underwhelming and didn't seem to be made in-house, would not get again despite the fact that they were surprisingly big enough to share.
All in all, it was a pleasant meal and our server was very attentive with our tea refills and bringing out new place settings for dessert. Unlike many dim sum and Chinese casual dining places, Asian Legend doesn't charge a tea tax. It's also nice when they're passing by and actually top up your cup for you; one of the older ladies at the other table clearly enjoyed the attention and took the opportunity to flirt outrageously with our waiter. But I digress. Final verdict: would come again! While I'm sure this place will fill up soon as the word gets out that an Asian Legend has arrived in the area, there's a novelty to being the minority at my own culture's cuisine, and eating dumplings to strains of a My Heart Will Go On instrumental. Circle booths!
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