Lunar Luxuries

Mid Autumn Festival is upon us once again and just like every year, every player in the F&B business starts pushing their mooncake will ahead of the actual festivities. With plenty to choose from, consumers are never short of choices.

And every year you'll find me heading back to the same handful of restaurants for my personal stash. I'm a true believer that the old guys make them better, I prefer the tried and tested. I'm also one of those people who gets turn off by egg yolks in my mooncake, and prefers the chilled snow skin variation. So what if I'm not a purist? I like what I eat and I eat what I like.

Without fail, my annual pilgrimage includes a stop to OVERSEAS RESTAURANT for their Snow Skin Pure Lotus Paste mooncake which is always a pleasure. As any self-proclaimed connoisseur will tell you, that the secret to a good mooncake lies in its lotus paste. It must contain the right ratio of sugar and oil mix to achieve that smooth melt in your mouth texture which Overseas never fail to produce. Another reason why I love the mooncakes here is how their Snow Skin is always subtle in taste letting the lotus paste take precedence and it's never dry, brittle or taste like plastic.

Over the last couple of years, I've also found joy in their new creation of the Cherry Blossom Mooncake. It's still quintessentially the same lotus paste mooncake, but with a hint of Sakura's fragrance in it.



But no Mid-Autumn Festival would be complete (at least for this lil' monkey) without indulging in the luxurious Moët & Chandon Champagne Mini Ping Pei mooncake from Ritz Carlton's famed Liyen Chinese Restaurant. Screw Häagen-Dazs' uber expensive faux ice cream mooncake. If you have to splurge this season, spend them on these.

Made fresh to order with no preservatives (apparently they go bad within a week). One whiff of its soft champagne skin and a taste of its immaculate golden lotus paste will send you straight to bubbly heaven. Kinda like M&Ms, they melt in your mouth not in your hands. The only down side is its minuscule size. Measuring slightly larger than a 50-sens coin in diameter, this little wonder will disappear before you can say "Cheers!".

No guessing how I felt receiving a box of these lovely goodies from McCutie while I am still recovering at home. And no, it's not the alcohol speaking *hic*