Which mooncakes are good?

Yeoh Wee Teck | The New Paper | Tue Aug 31 2010

Singapore, August 31, 2010

For some, the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival ranks high in the gastronomy stakes.

It is traditional to have a feast of pomelos, yams and mooncakes while sipping Chinese tea and watching the light from your lantern flicker in the moonlight.

Well, that scenario might work best if you are a courtesan.

But you can still recreate that experience today – without being a courtesan.

On Sept 22, the day of the festival, throw a Mid-Autumn party.

Pomelos and yams are easy to get – a visit to the supermarket should settle this.

Ask your guests to bring their own tea.

Then all that is left for you to do is to get the mooncakes.

Ironically, that may be the difficult part for some because there is such a wide range of mooncakes to choose from.

Every major hotel has a selection to offer, with more coming from shops and bakeries.

It can get confusing.

I like traditional mooncakes; savoury mooncakes beat the sweet ones any time.

And when it comes to snowskin mooncakes, a little tartness is always good.

Here are the ones I liked:

Mandarin Oriental, Singapore’s mooncake with conpoy, mushrooms and assorted nuts ($52 for four pieces) (above pic)

A savoury selection that appealed to me.

Although the hotel has been pushing its range of snowskin mooncakes, this baked one ranks high as one of the most intriguing.

It has fried shitake mushroom floss, dried scallop and roasted nuts.

The ingredients worked well together.

Each bite of the mooncake was thrilling.

Call 6885 3541 to place your order.

 

Park Palace’s Mao Shan Wang durian snowskin mooncakes ($88 for four pieces)

Regular readers will know I am not a durian fan.

It’s a delicacy that breaches my tolerance levels.

So I’m basing this on my colleagues’ comments.

Needless to say, it got the thumbs up.

“Sweet”, “smooth” and “fragrant” were the adjectives that popped up – along with satisfied smiles.

To place orders, call 6432 5555. 

Crystal Jade’s chrysanthemum honey mini konnyaku jelly mooncakes ($5.50 for six pieces)

This is a far from traditional mooncake. But it has the right shape, so we’ll pretend it counts.

I liked the fact that it was not too sweet.

Yet, I could taste the subtle sweetness of chrysanthemum in the jelly.

It is also healthier than most other mooncakes and has a pleasant scent that perfumes your mouth.

This is available only at Crystal Jade My Bread outlets. Call 6512 0800 for more information.

If you order before Sept 8 and pay with a Citibank credit or debit card, you get a 15 per cent early bird discount.

Singapore Marriott Hotel’s lotus seed paste with chicken bak-kwah and assorted nuts ($51 for four pieces)

This mooncake has a combination of sweet and savoury, with a nice crunchy texture.

There is a nutty aroma and it is not too sweet.

Call the hotline at 6831 4708 to place your order. They are already available at the hotel entrance.

From next week, you can also pick them up from shopping centres such as Jurong Point, Raffles City Shopping Centre and Tampines Mall.

The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore’s mini snowskin jujube paste mooncake ($39 for six pieces)

This is one of the prettiest mooncakes around and it looks as good as it tastes.

Jujube is a fancy name for red date.

This semi-sweet mooncake has a delicate flavour. But it is full of texture, thanks to the crunchy walnuts.

For inquiries and orders, call 6434 5286.