365days2playThe Mid-Autumn Festival is nearly upon us. September 19th, Thursday is the big day! Have you planned anything interesting? When I was a child, the week leading up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, or the moon-cake festival as I sometimes call it, would be licence for us kids to tot around lanterns at the playground. Maybe I haven’t been looking out for it, but I get the feeling that children these days don’t go gaga over the lanterns as much? I don’t feel as if I’ve seen many pretty toy lanterns being put up on sale.
Anyway, for the adults, the most iconic thing about Mid-Autumn Festival would be the eating of mooncakes. Selecting a good mooncake is no easy job, and worse still, they aren’t cheap! It’s hard to tell which mooncake is the best, especially when you’re sampling tiny morsels at the mooncake counters. Most people end up buying from the famous hotel brands, or they simply choose mooncakes with the prettiest boxes. Yeah, it’s become a box buying ritual rather than a mooncake buying ritual, but with the eye-catching and innovative mooncake box designs out there, who can be blamed?
The truth be told, people mainly buy mooncakes because of symbolism. Like it’s respectful and courteous to give a box to your parents or your elders. I mean, do you hear of people craving for mooncakes in April? Not that mooncakes aren’t tasty, get the right ones and they are quite delectable. But they are soon forgotten after the Mid-Autumn festival is over. In any case, the job has to be done, and this is the last weekend to throng the malls to find your favourite mooncakes. Here are some last minute recommendations if you haven’t already gotten yours!
Where to buy mooncakes in Singapore
Your best bet is to go to one of the big shopping malls such as Raffles City Shopping Centre or Takashimaya (Event Hall) and Vivocity where there will be rows and rows of booths featuring all manner of mooncakes. Even the hotels will set up a stall there. You can sample to your heart’s content, but mind the calorie count!
If not, here are some that I have sampled over the last few months (yes!)
~~~ Paradise Inn ~~~
Assorted Fruit Snowskin Mooncakes
These are refreshingly fresh tasting on the palate, and come in vibrant mooncake skin colours. Flavours include revitalising green apple, energizing orange, summery pomelo and rejuvenating cranberry. Love these eye-catching moon cakes that I would say are very kid friendly!
Call 8363 8555 / 9452 5664 10 am — 7 pm daily or visit any of the Paradise Group outlets. www.paradisegp.com
~~~ Shangri-La Shang Palace ~~~
If you’ve always been a fan of the chilled snowskin variety, you will be glad to know that Shangri-La has come up with 2 new refreshing flavours — Red Bean Paste with Diced Almond and the low-sugar Purple Sweet Potato. The former teases the palate with a marriage of velvety sweet red bean paste and crunchy-diced almond. I tried these and they are good for those who really do not like mooncakes that are very sweet. And don’t forget the durian mooncake, that is sure to be a talking point as well!
Birds-nest custard snow skin mooncakes
And if you really want to make a statement, get these birds-nest mooncakes. This is a super premium moon cake going at $14 per piece or $88 per box! I managed to get one for my grandmother. Aren’t I a good granddaughter? 
Regular mooncakes starting from $60 per box to $98 for a box of 4 yolks per mooncake. Heart attack on a plate and on the wallet but never mind lah, once a year only!
~~~ Park Hotel Group Park Palace ~~~
White lotus seed paste with macadamia nuts. This is a low sugar version and apparently a hot favourite.
Golden Yam with Double Yolk $59 (for single yolk)
Apparently this is also a hot item! These are also mooncakes, albeit slightly different. They are handcrafted with thin layers of crispy crust, opening up to revela a soft yam paste. Good for those who love orh nee!
Tel : 6432 5555 or email : mooncake@parkhotelgroup.com Mooncakes are available at all hotels under Park Hotel Group till 19 September 2013
