Perhaps it has aspirations toward becoming the Ding Tai Fung of Europe, what with the copycat white walls, chefs folding xia long bao behind glass panels. Full marks for ambiance and kudos for trying to emulate a franchise which has perfected the delivery of consistently good XLBs. Unfortunately, we’re closer to Chinatown, London, than we are to Tienmu,Taipei, and sadly that makes for a more than wary customer in me. I cannot say I’m not glad to see Dumplings’ Legend take over from the ageing and overly torrid Lee Ho Fook – a champion way before my time, but probably because of Warren Zevon’s singing rather than for its Michelin winning ways – which in its twilight years, churned out some of the worst Chinese food I can remember. Though usually applied to restaurants with rip-off prices, my dad branded it a ‘black store’ (as in blacklisted, banned, do no enter, nuclear wastage) anyway. Unconfirmed reports and to my best guesstimations suggest that the owners of Dumplings’ Legend also own the Leongs Legends restaurants, as well as Empress of Sichuan. So at the very least, some semblance of quality can be expected. I take the general view that LL and LL Continues (for the overspill of customers) are two of the ‘best’ dim sum restaurants in Chinatown, which says very little of the tremendously bad quality of Chinatown restaurants these
The fish counter at Wing Yip always gets my undivided attention, whenever we visit to stock up the larder. It’s those massive tanks with the filtered running water, the sound of an artificial waterfall, filled with still live and flopping crabs and lobsters
Food is much more accessible and democratic over on the right side of the Pacific. There is so much diversity, that at times, I find it ironic that the gourmet awakening (of sorts) is taking place in London, where food blogs are as plentiful as fishes, as opposed to the rest of Asia. That might just be an indication of how advanced the broadband networks are in London however or perhaps we crave the good life because we feel the dearth. Oh how I miss Asia
Dim sum is one of the most unique and entirely accessible experiences in food. The literal translation for dim sum is ‘touch your heart’ – a term chosen to describe the style which is suppose to be small, packaged, and dare I say ‘bite-sized’ to tickle your fancy rather than cure a ravenous appetite. Dim sum is interchangeable with ‘Yum Cha’ – which simply means ‘let’s go for tea’. So the saying goes (according to my old bar manager) that in the same way an Englishman can hold his pint, a chinese guy can hold his tea… well quite the same thing but you get my drift
Dim sum week continues to roll through LondonEater and I have chosen to return to Leong’s Legends Continues – a restaurant which I panned not too long ago. I have good reason to go back because I have heard good things about their dim sum. I take the view that ala carte and dim sum menus in the same restaurant are entirely mutually exclusive; I feel that the style of food is distinct enough which can lead to wildly differing meals. I suppose it is also the same reason why some Chinese restaurants hire dedicated chefs who are in charge of either menus. This isn’t just limited to London restaurants; I carry the same sort of mentality wherever the restaurant is, be it Crystal Jade in Singapore or Kam Fook in Sydney – both of which were memorable meals
The countdown to Chinese New Year begins now. We are technically now at the tail’s end of the Ox year – an insidious one I must say, but in little over three weeks, we will be welcoming the year of the steely Tiger and one which should see us return to prosperity once again. I have been saving up my Chinese restaurant articles and thought it’d be a nice lead-up to the Lunar New Year celebrations. The first day of Chinese New Year will coincide with Valentines this year, and it will last for fifteen days. Depending on who you ask, there are several reasons for the CNY festivities running for as long it is, though as my parents had explained it to me, this period was traditionally the only fifteen days in which people had time off work, technically, there are no more Chinese public holidays during the rest of the year
Legend has it that Dim Sum is meant to touch your heart, some call it 'sipping tea'. To me, it's brunch on a sunday, chinese style with the folks and definitely with the special peeps (that includes you). The Cantonese in me normally shoots for the classic prawn, pork, prawn pork combos be it the dumplings, the cheung funs or the buns, however, the Taiwanese of me suggests that venturing out from the comfort zone once in a while, ain't a bad thing
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