Leong's Legends, 9th March

Leong's Legends was a bit of a mixed bag. Fortunately, the things I picked out of that bag were great and on that basis I'd go back again. My friend George wasn't so lucky and it was his dishes which were duds.

I heard about Leong's Legends when I sent a plea to secret_london for places in London that do soupy dumplings after I was disappointed with the ones in Beijing Dumpling. So all I was really interested in was how well they did this one dish. And they were far superior to the Beijing ones - these ones actually had a spoonful of porky soup in them, and the dumplings themselves were tasty - light skins, fully filled.

But I'm getting a little ahead of myself.

There was no queue when we arrived and we were asked to wait on the stairs. As was everyone else who came in behind us, keeping the growing queue out of sight from passersby. We watched with a keen eye all the tables which might soon be leaving and we struck gold - we got a booth away from the slurps and chewing noises of other diners! Best table in the house, tucked round a corner at the back.

I knew I was going for the soupy dumplings but they had a variety of dishes which sounded a bit different and for my other dish I chose a ginger chicken soup with rice wine and sesame.

Stephen, rather courageously, ordered the century egg with tofu dish because he'd liked Two Hungry Girls' version so much, and then went for the old staple, braised pork. 

George was also a little adventurous and ordered stuffed dates with honey and then something reliable - an ordinary noodle dish.

The century egg arrived and both George and I said it was a mistake on a plate. A huge cube of tofu surrounded by jellified egg. Stephen didn't even recognise the egg for what it was at first. We demurred trying any until he had. When he attested that it really was nice, I had a bit. And it was! I don't think I could have eaten a whole dish of it on my own, but I did like a few bites of it. It came in a spicy/sweet dressing which was also really, really good.

Most of our food came at about the same time. Stephen's pork was a particularly good version - it had a very deep, sweetish flavour. I only had a bite or so but I would happily have a whole dish of that to myself. Fantastic.

George's noodles didn't look all that much and he didn't think they were amazing either. A bum note for him. But my siu long bao lived up to and exceeded my expectations as I said.

Hard to see but that's a whole spoon of porky broth

We were almost done with these dishes and were beginning to wonder when mine and George's others would arrive - they were the only two we'd ordered that hadn't been on the order form you fill out. We worried they were forgotten, but the waitress just assured us they 'needed time to cook'. 

A good five minutes or so after we'd eaten the rest of the dishes, my soup came out. It was full of ginger strips and pieces of chicken on the bone. Not a good dish for me to order in retrospect as I'm not great at eating chicken on the bone. The flavour of the soup was fragrant and the sort of thing you could eat if you're feeling a little under the weather. It got a little salty for me towards the end but I liked it.

Finally, the stuffed dates arrived. I don't eat dates anyway so I didn't try them but they didn't look great. Sadly, it seems they didn't taste great either (and God knows what they were doing with them that it took so long to make). George and Stephen couldn't figure out what the dates were actually stuffed with. SOme weird gelatinous substance that left a chalky taste in the mouth apparently. We asked and it turned out to be rice! Who knew.

So, for me, and enjoyable meal and I would definitely go back. They had a number of dishes on the menu that I thought sounded intriguing or just tasty. George probably had a completely different experience to me and Stephen and would say the exact opposite. 

Beijing Dumpling, 2nd June

After a day of strolling along the Southbank, attempting to get in the mood for the Jubilee by looking at the tall ships lining the Thames, we had worked up quite the appetite. My two companions were in the mood for Chinese and so I persuaded them to go to a place on my list – Beijing Dumpling.

I found this place because one day I suddenly recalled the soupy dumplings I’d had in New York and wondered if I could find them here. I did some research and found a couple of potential places. Beijing Dumplings sounded the best of the two and made the list. As we walked in, the place was quite full but we were able to be seated within a few minutes of arriving. In the window by the entrance you see the women cooks making the dumplings by hand and they looked good. Coupled with the warm and welcoming décor, slightly unusual for a place in Chinatown, we thought we’d come to a decent place.

Almost forgot to take a picture!

Unfortunately, I have to report that the food was a bit of a let down. I was actually pretty happy with my two dishes, but my dining partners fared less well. I had come for the dumplings and so dumplings I had. You can have soupy dumplings, or soupy dumplings in soup. I chose spicy pork dumplings without soup, and then a side of salt and pepper chicken. You get about 10 dumplings in a serving so this seemed more than enough food. They come in a steamed basket and at first I was disappointed. They were tiny and didn’t seem to have any soup in them! But they did, just not all that much, so in a few of them, the juice seemed to have evaporated. But in others there was enough for me to do the ritual of making a small hole, pouring out the soup into my spoon to enjoy, and then eating the rest dipped into the vinegar provided. And they were yummy. My other gripe with them is that Stephen got the regular pork dumplings, and there wasn’t much difference in the level of spiciness between them.

My second dish of chicken was lightly floured chicken, then fried and it was quite a light, tasty dish. Definitely the best of the lot bar the dumplings.

Stephen ordered beef ho fun with his dumplings and declared that he’d had better elsewhere. There weren’t enough peppers and onions included, and the noodles weren’t as good as in other places. 

Oh dear, looks a bit slimy

The third in our party had a mini-banquet in comparison.  I tried each of his dishes and wasn’t impressed with any of them. First he had a hot and sour soup which was weirdly thick and claggy. I'm doing you a favour by not having a picture of it. Then he had some chicken and cashews which was exactly what it said it was – no more, no less, no sauce. Actually, that wasn’t too bad, it just wasn’t that exciting either.

And finally, he had chow mein, which was a little dry and underwhelming. I had no food envy whatsoever.

I may go back for the dumplings, but I wouldn’t bother with anything else. And if I can find somewhere that’s less stingy with the soup, I may not go back at all! Does anyone have any xiao long bao (soupy dumpling) suggestions?