Mid-Autumn Festival. Zhongquijie. Lantern Festival. Mooncake Festival.By whatever name, I love everything associated with this seasonal festival - the celebrations, the myths, the mooncakes! Especially the mooncakes.There is definitely no shortage of variety and versions here. Creativity and imagination run amok as restaurants, hotels and pastry chefs promote their idea of a new and improved mooncake with new and different flavours, fillings, textures, even shapes (!). Somehow, I think of these re-invented mooncakes as experiments. Oftentimes, quite horrific failed experiments even.
In the end, I really want my mooncake as I have always known it.
With the familiar baked skin complete with its imperfections because a pair of hands worked on it. With the smooth lotus paste filling, just this side of too oily and too sweet.
Rolled up in a stack of 4 on plain white paper contrasted against Chinese Red and Gold decorative prints. Or packed in no-frills boxes of 4. And all stacked into brown paper bags carrying the company name.
In my books, the three masters of old-school mooncakes are (listed in no particular order):
Tai Thong Cake Shop
35 Mosque Street
Tel: 6223 2905
Chinatown Tai Chong Kok Confectionery Hue Kee
122 bukit Merah Lane 1 *01-62 Alexandra Village
Tel: 6270 8994
Tai Chong Kok
34 Sago Street
Tel: 6227 5701
oh yummy! i must say i prefer snowskin. esp of the durian variety. heh. EDPJ
ReplyDeleteedpj - that one may have endured long enough to qualify as old school soon :)
ReplyDeleteFunny. I think neither Tai Chong Kok u mentioned is the one I bought from last year. I must go check them out.
ReplyDeleteI like the baked skin too, with no yolks!
wildgoose - i went to the tai chong kok in bukit merah, Alex V. convenience is still a big thing to me, so i would not do chinatown and taka. get some! only 10 more days before they hide all mooncakes for another years.
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