Traditionally a harvest festival celebrated in mainland China, Taiwan, Malaysia and Vietnam, the Mid-Autumn Festival falls on 1 October this year. And the festival has its own official snack: the mooncake! This sweet pastry is shared between friends and family during gatherings. While mooncakes are usually baked with lotus seed or sweet bean paste, many shops have given their creative spin by launching unique flavours and variations. We’ve rounded up some of our favourites below.
Pan Pacific Singapore (update: sold out!)
If you’re looking for exquisite snowskin mooncakes that aren’t too sweet, Hai Tien Lo’s renditions tick all the right boxes. This year, the restaurant has rolled out 11 handcrafted baked and snowskin mooncakes made with premium ingredients. Our favourites are the raspberry chocolate, matcha black sesame and hazelnut yuzu. Prefer traditional? Try the low-sugar flavour: white lotus paste with macadamia nuts.
9009 5936 | mooncake.ppsin@panpacific.com
ppsinshop.com
JW Marriott Singapore South Beach
A highlight this year of modern Cantonese restaurant Madame Fan is its baked Pu Er mooncake. Pu Er is a variety of tea, so it’s a great one for tea lovers, and it includes chia seeds too. We’re also intrigued by the baked single yolk lychee lotus mooncake; it features the sweet and floral flavour of the lychee fruit, married with silky smooth lotus paste. Love durian? The best-selling Mao Shan Wang snowskin mooncake sees a comeback this year!
6818 1908 | jw.sinjw.festive@marriott.com
jwmarriottsg.oddle.me
Mandarin Oriental, Singapore
Cherry Garden at the Mandarin Oriental is offering tea-infused mooncakes, alongside old favourites like the lychee martini and the chocolate truffle snowskin flavours. For something more fruity, try the citrusy exotic passionfruit with candied pineapple and mango mochi snowskin mooncake. (Quite a mouthful, in more ways than one!) The smooth silver lotus paste encases candied pineapple chunks, which are painstakingly sweetened for eight hours and dried for two days. Made from mango and passionfruit juices, the soft and chewy mochi adds a nice tangy element.
6885 3500 | mosin-mooncakes@mohg.com
singapore.mandarinorientalshop.com
Raffles Hotel Singapore
Best enjoyed with a glass of champagne, the legendary champagne truffle snowskin mooncake from Raffles Hotel Singapore makes its return this year! Other popular picks from the snowskin variants include the cognac truffle (brandy and dark chocolate), and the earl grey tea and pearl, filled with tea-infused milk chocolate ganache and dark chocolate-coated cereal pearls. New on the menu this year is the apricot and sour plum snowskin mooncake, a decadent offering of fresh apricot purée, sour plum and white chocolate.
Old Seng Choong
Want to impress someone? The Celestial Premium Gift Box from renowned bakery brand Old Seng Choong will do the trick. Presented in an elegant faux leather tiered case, the set includes four baked mooncakes, including a red lotus paste with bakkwa (sweet dried meat), as well as four mini tea canisters. The mooncakes are also available for sale on their own (four pieces each), without the case. The Mao Shan Wang mini mooncakes are popular amongst durian lovers, too.
Putien
Handcrafted by Chinese restaurant Putien’s long-time staff Madame Leng, these traditional Teochew-style mooncakes feature a flakey pastry crust that’s fried to crispy perfection. Two types of fillings are available: premium yam and first-grade purple sweet potato from Thailand and Japan respectively. These decadent mooncakes are additive-free and lower-in-sugar – we love them!
Aroma Truffle
For something a little different, check out Aroma Truffle’s gold-dusted mooncakes. Featuring a modern twist on traditional durian flavours, these luscious treats are made with premium black winter truffles harvested from Spoleto, Italy. The mooncakes are also generously filled with pure Musang King durian from Raub Pahang. They’re available in two varieties: Black Charcoal Musang King and Butterfly Pea Musang King, the latter boasting a beautiful blue hue from the natural colour of blue pea flower.
Bakerzin
Coffee mooncakes, anyone? The aromatic latte mooncakes from Bakerzin are a must-try for coffee drinkers! The bittersweet filling is made with a ratio of 80 percent Arabica and 20 percent Sumatra Mandheling coffee beans, for a rich and chocolatey blend. On top of classic baked versions, there’s also a fruit-inspired snowskin series. Flavours incude orange chia seed and strawberry chia seed. For a boozy hit, take things up a notch with the apple vodka truffle snowskin mooncake; alternatively, the latte kahlua truffle snowskin mooncake is made with sweet coffee liqueur.
Psst… Enjoy up to 25 percent off the mooncakes when you order before 13 September!
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