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The More, The Merrier: Mooncake Options That Leave Us Spoilt For Choice
The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on 21 Sep this year, which gives us another excuse to get together and make merry with friends and family. Even if you’re celebrating apart, mooncakes make for fabulous gifts, especially with ever more extra flourishes in the form of boxes that release dry ice smoke upon opening or ones that light up.
Celebration of Lights Gift Set from Lady M
Lady M is better known for its cream-layered millefeuille crêpe cakes, so for the Mid-Autumn Festival, it has teamed up with Hong Kong stalwart Kee Wah Bakery, known for its traditional Chinese treats. Together, they’ve created some lovely Chocolate mooncakes that feature silky chocolate custard enrobed in chocolate-infused mooncake pastry. There’s also a classical Custard mooncake in a traditional baked shell.
The confections are packed in a box fashioned after a Ferris wheel, replete with twinkling lights, a depiction of fireworks and a moon rabbit looking up into the sky ($95 for a box of six mooncakes). Great for gifting!
Black Truffle Red Lotus Paste with Bakkwa Mooncakes from Old Seng Choong
It may be called Old Seng Choong, but newness is part of its DNA. Case in point: its ever more creative mooncake flavours that are introduced year after year. This year’s highlight is the Black Truffle Red Lotus Paste with Bakkwa Mooncakes ($88.80 for a box of eight mini mooncakes) that are encased in gleaming charcoal-black pastry gilded with a single brushstroke of gold. The red lotus paste is tempered by the earthiness of black truffle oil and brightened with flecks of delightfully sweet, meaty bak kwa.
Boozy Snowskin Mooncakes from Regent Singapore
In 2018, Summer Palace’s dim sum chef Leong Kwok Sing partnered with the decidedly ang moh cocktail bar Manhattan to create mooncakes featuring barrel-aged Sazerac six-year-old rye and La Louisiane Cocktail. The boozy mooncakes were such a hit that the hotel has included each of its dining outlets in the creation of their mid-Autumn staples since.
This year, Italian restaurant Basilico has created a mooncake carrying the flavours of basil-infused Amalfi Limoncello, while Manhattan made a Kyoho Grape and Kyoto Dry Gin one. These can be bought individually (a box of eight mini mooncakes costs $87), or as a collection of the hotel’s eight flavours for $90 a box.
Pure Mao Shan Wang Durian Snowskin Mooncakes from Royal Durian
If you want to make an impression with your mooncake gifts, these are the mooncakes to go for. For starters, a dramatic plume of dry-ice smoke greets whomever opens the box, making for a breath-taking, Insta-worthy moment. Add to that the fragrance of durians (assuming the person opening the box is a fan of the pungent fruit) which sets the tone for a delicious feast to come.
Each snowskin mooncake is filled with nothing but ripe durian flesh from fruit imported daily from Pahang, Malaysia. A box of eight costs $118. To order, email [email protected] or Whatsapp 8218 3137.
Hainanese Mooncakes from The Hainan Story
Traditionalists will appreciate The Hainan Story’s Hainanese Traditional Savoury Mooncake, packed with no less than 13 ingredients that include tangerine peel, fried shallots, sesame seeds and melon seeds. Its crust is more buttery and flakier than the average baked mooncake, rendering them moreish and all too easy to snack on.
Also part of the set is the Salted Mixed Nuts Mooncakes, Coconut Gula Melaka and White Lotus Mooncakes, and Hainanese Kopi Walnuts White Lotus Mooncake with Single Yolk. The latter is essentially a classic mooncake gives a jolt of added flavour and creaminess with the addition of coffee powder.
Each set of four ($78) comes in a nostalgic tingkat carrier printed with colourful illustrations of old Hainanese coffeeshop windows. Order by Whatsapping 8401 8792.
Traditional Baked Mooncakes from The Marmalade Pantry
Popular bistro The Marmalade Pantry gives mooncakes a local twist this year with Pandan Kaya and Melon Seeds. The traditional baked mooncakes are filled with pandan-infused lotus paste and flecked with crunchy melon seeds. Tea lovers might appreciate the Classic Earl Grey Infused Lotus Paste Mooncake that’s redolent of citrus notes from milled earl grey tealeaves. These mooncakes are available in four gift sets (prices start from $72), all of which come in stylish handbags that can be used well after the mid-autumn season has passed.
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