It’s mooncake season again as the Mid-Autumn festival or moon festival is celebrated to give thanks for a bountiful harvest. This celebration falls on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese lunar calendar which changes every year. This year, the holiday is on Friday, Sept. 13.
The Chinese delicacy didn’t become popular until the Yuan dynasty because it was said that mooncakes were used to send secretly send notes that helped the Chinese overthrow their Mongolian rulers.
Its a sweet and round golden pastry with filling inside that may vary from salted, baked egg yolk or a pasty filling made from lotus seeds or beans.
Now that there are a lot of varieties that you can avail, here is a list of shops and hotels that will guide you for the festival:
Hongkong MX
Pop up stores in SM Mall of Asia and Unimart Capitol Commons
0917-1708585
www.facebook.com/HKMXMooncakePH
Known as the “mooncake royalty,” Hongkong MX brings the lava and custard mooncake series that melts in your mouth on the first bite. You can either heat it until the filling melts or have it cold with a pasty filling. Its variety of flavors gives customers an opportunity to choose that’s grouped according to its fillings like reduced sugar, mixed nuts, and yolk. The mooncakes are sold in their pop-up stores at the SM Mall of Asia and Unimart Capitol Commons.
A box of 8 Lava Custard Mooncake – P2,000
A box of 8 Creamy Custard Mooncake – P2,000
Premium assorted mooncakes gift pack – P3,500
TWG Tea
Greenbelt 5, Shangri-La Plaza and Central square
www.facebook.com/TWGTeaPH
@TWGTea.PH
In celebration of the Chinese tradition, TWG Tea features a selection of traditional mooncakes that refine the classics with the Moon Route Tea Mooncake Collection, which is a set of handcrafted mooncakes. The collection has two subgroups both tea-infused: traditional and snowskin mooncakes.
The Moonlight Tea Time set is priced at P1,150.
TWG’s Tea’s set of four tea-infused traditional and snowskin retails for P2,050 and P2,488 where each mooncake is priced at P398 and P498 available in all TWG Tea salons and boutiques.
Canton Road
30th Street, corner 5th Ave, Taguig
(02) 820 8888
[email protected]
www.facebook.com/CanonRoadatShangrilaFort
Canton Road in Shangri-la at the Fort celebrates the festival with the celestial harmony of the stars and moon in its Constellation collection. It features a variety of classic to contemporary mooncakes like the classic flavors of pineapple, mixed nuts, white lotus, red bean and contemporary flavors like Matcha, Ube Macapuno and apple cinnamon.
Each mooncake is priced at P388 while boxed orders start at P2,888.
Okada Manila
New Seaside Dr, Parañaque
(02) 555 5799
[email protected]
Okada’s Crystal Corridor offers a set of handcrafted mooncakes that are made by pastry chefs from the hotel. The box of regular mooncakes like the mixed nuts and Pandan, Custard or White Lotus are priced at P2,200 each.
Solaire Resort and Casino
Tambo Entertainment City, 1 Aseana Ave, Parañaque
(02) 888-8888
www.facebook.com/SolaireResort
Celebrate with Solaire’s baked mooncakes that has four varieties. It features a double egg yolk center complemented by a variety of rich pastes. The choices are from the red bean paste which has dried orange skin, white lotus paste, black sesame lotus paste for a nuttier filling and the ube paste for a local flavor. But the more popular choice is their Snow Skin Mooncake which has a collection of five pairings, like the raisin and pili nut lotus baste that tastes of nutty paste.
Prices start at P2,300 for a box of 2 baked mooncakes to P5,300 for a premium box of 4 baked mooncakes with red lantern special sauces.
Grand Hyatt Manila
8th Avenue corner 35th Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
(02) 838 1234
[email protected]
www.facebook.com/grandhyattmanilaph
Grand Hyatt Manila offers classic and praline flavors that can be gifted and customized with a bottle of wine or a slice of cake like the red velvet and calamansi cake. Their praline flavors range from lotus, red bean, mandarin, matcha to lemon ginger.
Prices start at P1,388 with a box of 2 mooncakes to a box of 4 mooncakes that you can take home with a bottle of red or white wine. While their praline flavors start from P988 for a box of 9 pieces.
Lung Hin
Meralco Avenue and Sapphire Street Ortigas Centre, San Antonio, Pasig
(02) 720 7720
www.facebook.com/MarcoPoloOrtigasManila
Lung Hin in Marco Polo Ortigas Manila celebrates with authentic Hong Kong mooncakes that are packed in a limited edition box in flavors like the red bean with double egg yolk and lotus seed paste with double egg yolk.
Prices start at P2,888 for a box of 4 and P4,888 for a set of 4 with the limited edition box.
Header photo courtesy of daniel64 on Pixabay
Get more stories like this by subscribing to our weekly newsletter here
Read more:
Tour and tinker around 1600s Binondo in Chinatown’s interactive museum
Mooning over mooncakes? Get this Chinese pastry from these shops
Have this edible rabbit for dessert at this Chinese restaurant in San Juan
Writer: GABRIELLE PARLADE
