Mid-Autumn 2018

Yesterday was the light-up ceremony and fireworks displays for Chinatown Mid-Autumn Festival 2018 though it usually takes place after Hungry Ghost Festival – today is the last day. Two more weeks to buy mooncakes as Mid-Autumn Festival falls on 24 Sep (Mon). What stood out at this year's Takashimaya Mooncake Fair was that many added macadamia nuts to their traditional mooncakes without salted egg yolks, and most of the lotus paste was too sweet for my liking. To indulge your loved ones who should not be eating sweet stuff, try the a-tad-sweeter mooncakes from Shangri-La Hotel or The Ritz Carlton. Or get the ones from Mandarin Orchard, Wan Hao Chinese Restaurant by Singapore Marriott Tang Plaza Hotel or Golden Peony by Conrad Centennial Singapore if you do not have a sweet tooth. Could not resist the latter's 40% discount and got its Golden Peony Traditional Baked Treasures, choosing the champagne cream box over the crimson red one for the 4 pieces of mooncakes in different flavours. Hoping to reuse the box, just like the one from Man Fu Yuan by Intercontinental Singapore that I bought 2 years ago.

Mid-Autumn 2017

It is the time of the year again, to visit Takashimaya Mooncake Fair. Loved Shangri-La Hotel's handcrafted silk boxes with pearl buttons as handles to pull open drawers of mooncakes, and Peony Jade's baked premium mother of pearl white lotus paste with melon seeds mooncake. New flavours from the latter include mini snowskin mango mousse, passion fruit and coconut as well as mini snowskin crème brûlée and blueberry cheese. Not only are Sze Chuan Court by Fairmont Singapore's snowskin and baked white lotus paste with single yolk and macadamia nuts mooncakes shaped like peaches, its boxes (except the premium mooncake box) is also shaped like a peach. Reminiscent of the spice trade along Singapore River in the 1800s, Summer Palace by Regent Singapore's mini- and regular-sized mooncakes are individually packed in round and square metal tins respectively inside a carry-and-go pine wood box. I liked its mini snowskin signature black sesame paste mooncake but found the baked white lotus paste mooncake a tad sweet.

Mid-Autumn 2016

Mid-Autumn Festival falls on 15 Sep this year. While the Takashimaya Mooncake Fair usually starts during the Hungry Ghost Festival, the light-up ceremony and fireworks displays for Chinatown only take place after. Was looking for above-average mooncakes in beautiful packaging and settled for Man Fu Yuan by Intercontinental Singapore – two doors with knobs open to reveal two drawers that contained two mooncakes each. I would prefer two baked mooncakes each of white lotus paste with single yolk, and low sugar white lotus paste with macadamia nuts. However, flavours could not be mixed so bought the latter. At 25% off, it was reasonably priced. Grand Hyatt stood out from the rest in that there are 9 snowskin and 4 baked flavours for you to choose from. 8 mini snowskin or 4 traditional mooncakes fit into an exquisite box and flavours include snowskin black sesame, Buddha's hand truffle mooncake and traditional baked sesame lotus double yolk with bamboo ash mooncake.

Mid-Autumn 2013 Part II

Today is the 1st day of the 8th lunar month, which means Mid-Autumn Festival is just 2 weeks away. Fret not if you are still undecided on what mooncakes to get this year because here, I highlight a few noteworthy ones from samples tried at Takashimaya Mooncake Fair 2013. For those who have settled on your choice, see Mid-Autumn 2013 Part I for local bank credit card discounts. Having already eaten traditional baked mooncakes from Hua Ting Restaurant by Orchard Hotel and sampled a couple from Man Fu Yuan by Intercontinental Singapore, these were posted on my Facebook page. Of the traditional baked mooncakes I tried from Jiang Nan Chun by Four Seasons Hotel, Silver Lotus Paste with Honey and Pine Nuts as well as Silver Lotus Paste with Cassia Flowers, Oolong Tea and Melon Seeds stood out for their faint aroma. I liked Mini Snowskin White Lotus Paste and White Lotus Seed Paste with Black Sesame from Ritz Carlton too.