From century egg to Sichuan chilli – we taste-test Hong Kong’s wackiest new mooncakes
Egg custard mooncakes are so last year. Forget about going for the same boring options as everyone else. If you want your mooncakes to stand out from the crowd, the least you can do is to avoid all the traditional (read: boring) flavours like white lotus paste with egg yolk or egg custard.
Instead, how about pushing the envelope (and your stomach’s comfort level) with new, exciting flavours like mango, ginger and turmeric to golden century egg and pickled ginger?
Simply put: if you’re all about trying out new flavours for the heck of it, then you’re spoilt for choice this year. Check out our round-up of some of the unique mooncakes on offer this year.
Six decadent mooncakes to indulge in during Mid-Autumn Festival
InterContinental Grand Stanford
This year the InterContinental Grand Stanford is introducing a new flavour – almond cream with egg white mooncakes. The flavour is inspired by the home-made almond cream with egg white dessert served at the hotel’s Hoi King Heen restaurant. The mooncake has a filling of almond cream paste made with hand-ground almonds, while the crust is meant to have a little hint of egg white. This particular flavour is limited to just 700 boxes.
The Cakery x John Anthony
The Cakery has teamed with John Anthony this year for a special mooncake collaboration. John Anthony is a Cantonese restaurant, while The Cakery is a local bakery that offers organic, sugar-free, gluten-free and vegan-friendly products. Four flavours are available: dark chocolate and Sichuan chilli pepper; black and white sesame; rose and mixed berries; mango, ginger and turmeric.
KFC
KFC has launched two mooncake flavours this year: spicy chicken and nuts; and golden lava custard. Best of all, they come housed in a fake chicken bucket, each carrying six mooncakes. You can choose either the Chicken x Golden Lava combo – carrying three of each flavour – or take the all-out Golden Lava option, with all six in the egg custard flavour. The bucket also lights up so you can use it as a lantern during the festival. But let’s be honest, it’s the spicy chicken and nuts mooncake – which is made with nuts, almonds, sunflower seeds and peaches – and mixed in with spicy chicken floss, that’s stealing the show this year.
Craving a sweet treat? Try these decadent vegan desserts
Supernutri
Supernutri is a Hong Kong online store that sells mooncakes using chia seeds as its main ingredient. This year, it offers five flavours: matcha walnuts and red bean; rose and songren (pine nuts); almonds and purple yam; oat and pecans; and osmanthus nuts and black sesame.
The brand prides itself on using less sugar and less oil. The mooncake skin here is made with Momoyama skin, which is made from bean flour or paste and is high in protein and low in sugar and fat.
Mooncakes get a modern spin at The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong
Kowloon Shangri-La
If you’re a sucker for fun, experimental flavours, then look no further than Kowloon Shangri-La. The hotel is offering a host of interesting options, including Chiu Chow mooncake with pandan leaf, yam paste and salted egg yolk; and mini snowy mooncake with durian paste.
Stealing the show, however, are two new flavours that are debuting this year: mini golden century egg and pickled ginger mooncake; and mini pineapple paste and five-seed mooncake. The first mixes spicy young ginger with the creamy golden century egg yolk. The second is inspired by Taiwanese pineapple cake and uses sweet, fresh pineapple for its filling.
Video by Jeff Chen.
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We tackle inventive Mid-Autumn Festival treats from Supernutri, The Cakery x John Anthony, Kowloon Shangri-La, InterContinental Grand Stanford – and KFC