Leong's Legend

What Leong's Legend is in Chinatown

Leong's Legend is a Taiwanese restaurant in London's Chinatown, trading at Ground Floor, 39 Gerrard Street, W1D 5QD. It was among the first places in the area to put Taipei night-market cooking on its menu rather than the standard Cantonese list found across much of Chinatown. A visitor goes for that focus: small plates and bowls drawn from Taiwanese street food, served in a snug, wood-lined dining room that fills quickly in the evenings.

The kitchen is best known for xiao long bao, the soup dumplings filled with hot broth that are eaten with a spoon and a touch of black vinegar and ginger. Alongside them sit dishes such as oyster omelette, beef noodle soup, chilli crab and Taiwanese pork buns. The cooking sticks to the savoury, layered flavours of Taipei rather than aiming for a broad pan-Chinese menu, which is what sets Leong's Legend apart from its neighbours.

The menu and what to order

The draw at this Taiwanese restaurant is the dumpling and small-plate selection. Soup dumplings are the signature order, and they are usually steamed to order, so a short wait is normal at busy times. Bao buns, fried items and noodle soups round out the menu, making it straightforward to share several dishes across a table. Portions suit grazing across a few plates rather than a single large main, which fits the night-market spirit the restaurant is built around.

The room is compact, with closely set tables and booths, so it can feel busy when full. Queues are common in the evening, particularly at weekends, and the restaurant is geared towards walk-in diners as much as bookings. Lunch and early evening tend to be the quieter windows for anyone who prefers to avoid a wait.

Finding Leong's Legend

The restaurant sits on Gerrard Street, the main pedestrian spine of Chinatown, a short walk from the surrounding lanes including Macclesfield Street. The location places it within easy reach of Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus Underground stations, and in the area's cluster of bakeries, dessert shops and grocers. For anyone wanting authentic Taiwanese street food in central London rather than a generic Chinatown meal, Leong's Legend is one of the established options in the neighbourhood.