World’s most luxurious mooncakes? Caviar and truffle Mid-Autumn Festival treats – US$230 for four – take decadence to a new level

Hong Kong food exporter Royal Caviar Club has teamed up with private caterers Guerilla Lab to create a mooncake like no other

It took 10 weeks of experimenting to get the flavour and texture just right

Reading Time:2 minutes

A caviar and truffle mooncake from the Royal Caviar Club in Hong Kong. At US$230 for a box of four, it is one of the most luxurious mooncakes in the world.

Published: 12:45pm, 9 Aug 2020Updated: 1:56pm, 8 Sep 2021

For the past seven months, restaurants in Hong Kong have been badly affected by social-distancing rules imposed because of the coronavirus pandemic. But there’s hope things will get better by the Mid-Autumn Festival – which this year falls on October 1 – when families get together to admire the full moon and eat mooncakes.

Unlike previous years, many mooncake makers don’t have the resources to develop new flavours. Still, a few have come up with creative fillings for the cakes traditionally presented as gifts to family and friends.

The Mira Hong Kong hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui is offering pineapple purée mini mooncakes, while the Cordis Hong Kong hotel in Mong Kok has mooncakes filled with red bean paste and chestnut. French patisserie Dang Wen Li by Dominique Ansel in Tsim Sha Tsui makes its Mid-Autumn Festival debut with an Earl Grey custard-filled mooncake, and butcher-and-deli chain Feather & Bone is offering savoury ones with pork in a flaky pastry crust.

But how about going all out and indulging in a decadent mooncake filled with caviar and truffles? At HK$1,800 (US$230) for a box of four (HK$1,380 for orders received before September 11), the mooncakes from Royal Caviar Club are like no other you’ve ever tasted.

Packaging for the caviar and truffle mooncakes.

“When you eat typical mooncakes you can only eat one because they‘re so fattening, but these ones are very light and not rich,” says Vison Wong, founder of Royal Caviar Club, a food exporter based in Hong Kong’s Western district. “It’s not very salty at all, because our caviar is not very salty to start with.”

The local caviar brand sought the help of private caterer Guerilla Lab to come up with a mooncake for this year‘s Mid-Autumn Festival. The lab, formed by chefs Nick Chew and John Yip who both previously worked at Hong Kong restaurants Bibo and Serge et le Phoque, “likes to take on fun projects” in Chew’s words.