In the past, all my visits to Asian Legend were at their Scarborough location (read more about it here). But, my husband and I were craving soup filled dumplings, so decided to drop by the closer North York location instead. Not quite as large, it still has ample seating and was very busy during our weekend visit (make reservations if you’re planning to go with more than two people).

Of course we had to get what we came for - the steamed soup filled pork dumplings ($5.99). These tasted the same - decent wrapper thickness and a good amount of soup encapsulated in each one. But, we also opted to try the steamed soup filled crab and pork dumplings ($7.99) as well. I didn’t bother taking a picture of both because they look exactly the same.

At first I felt dubious about the addition of crab and weather it’d be worth the extra $2. But, am happy to say that you can certainly taste and see the extra ingredient. Overall, it brings an extra depth of flavour to the dumpling; an aromatic seafood essence. Since I eat mine without vinegar, I could taste the crab’s natural flavours mixed in. But, if you’re going to top the dumplings with a lot of condiments, I wouldn’t bother going past the traditional pork.

Their pork potstickers ($4.99) were not as juicy as the Scarborough location. The wrapper also could be improved as a couple were splitting apart (hence letting all the juices run out). Additionally, it lacked the more developed crust of their sister location.

The Singaporean style fried vermicelli ($10.99) had some great flavours to it with the generous dusting of curry powder. Indeed, it’s a much smaller portion than my previous experiences and found there wasn’t much of the staple ingredients of shrimp, BBQ pork and egg.

Overall, the taste of the dishes are similar as they seem to follow similar recipes. However, the execution of dishes (the potstickers) and value-for-money (the noodles) definitely falls behind their Scarborough counterpart. But, if you’re craving Shanghainese comfort food and don’t want to travel far, Asian Legend’s North York location may help tide you over.