All These Mooncakes, I’m Spoilt for Choice

It is the time of the year again, it is now approaching the end of the 7th month in the lunar calendar, which means… jeng jeng jeng, Mid Autumn festival is just around the corner!

Now I’m not the most traditional chinaman out there, but one thing I love most about the Mid Autumn festival are the mooncakes. Yes, the Chinese bakery product that you can eat as breakfast, lunch, dinner, or even dessert (that is how I approach them anyway).

You are right, I love my mooncakes.

Tai Thong mooncakes, this stall is at Subang Jaya SS 14

I was invited to Tai Thong’s mooncake launch for 2011 (Kim attended) but unfortunately had to skip it due to work commitment, but of course, that does not stop me from getting them on my own. Last Friday I stopped by the Imperial Garden building at Subang SS 14 SS 17 to grab myself a couple boxes of Tai Thong mooncakes.

mooncakes with more “traditional” skin, 12 varities to choose from

These mooncakes are the brain child of Tai Thong’s Group Executive Chef Yiu Wing Keung, and there is a total of some 20 types of flavors available, with 5 new flavors this year.

I bought a total of eight mooncakes, four from the four season collections – with the more traditional skin, and another four  snow skin mooncakes. The mooncakes are divided into Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter collections.

lotus paste double yolks, and the interesting shrimp sambal mooncake

I still love my traditional lotus paste double yolks mooncake. As always, the combination of those salted egg yolks and lotus paste is a perfect blend of savory and sweetness. The only question I have is why haven’t someone come up with mooncake that has four egg yolks? (not enough interior space I guess… )

Then there’s the savory white lotus with shrimp sambal mooncake. You read it right, yes, shrimp sambal. I thought it was going to be super weird, but somehow the combination actually worked. It was refreshing and I gotta applaud the good chef’s creativity on this one. It was daring, and it was good!

The snowy white lotus & sesame with custard was a bit lighter, and the assorted fruit nuts with chicken bits mooncake perfect for someone who loves it chewy and full of nutty flavors.

there are 9 varieties of snow skin mooncakes

The snow skin mooncakes are a relatively recent phenomena (if you are generation-x or older that is), I love the minty and fresher taste the skin provides, but as a trade off, you have to keep them in the fridge.

The snow skin Japanese potato with custard has a sweetish taste in it’s smooth fillings, goes very well with some Chinese tea. Snow skin yam paste single yolk is one of my favorites too, salted egg yolk and yam are two of my favorite flavors, and they work well together.

assorted fruit nuts with chicken bits,
snow skin black sesame & green beans with cheese

Then there’s snow skin black sesame & green beans with cheese mooncake, I never knew mooncake could have cheese in them, but this one certainly does, and you gotta try it for yourself, it was slightly odd at first, but turned out to pretty good too.

The snow skin silky vanilla chestnut, on the other hand, is a more soothing experience that provides the taste that one would expect from the ingredients listed.

it looks like not only the two humans who enjoy Tai Thong mooncakes

Among the 8 flavors I tried, if I have to pick my favorites, they gotta be the traditional lotus paste with double yolks (call me a traditionalist), the savory white lotus shrimp sambal for Autum (really!), and the snow skin yam paste with single yolk. I guess I just really love the combination of savory + sweetness in mooncakes.

Tai Thong mooncake packaging

Tai Thong mooncakes come in four season aluminum boxes that are beautiful to look at, practical to use, and environmentally friendly to recycle.

From 11th July until 4th September, Tai Thong is running the Sweetest Snapshot Contest too.

• Weeks 1 -2 are Early Bird Weeks, where 1 Apple iPad 2 + RM100 Voucher are to be won each week
• Weeks 3-7 are Standard Weeks, where 1 Apple iPad 2 + RM100 voucher are to be won as 1^st prize, 1 Apple iPhone 4 + RM100 Voucher are to be won as 2^nd prize each week
• Week 8 is Grand Prize Week, where 1 Apple iPad 2 + Apple iPhone 4 + RM500 voucher are to be won

Do log into http://www.facebook.com/TaiThong, like the page, and win some stuff already!

note: this is  a sponsored post