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Shopping mall atriums have come alive again. Neat rows of makeshift stalls now sprawl across their expanse, backed by piles of gilded boxes and fronted by glass cases heaving with pastel-hued sweets. The mid-autumn festival is right around the corner, and the business of mooncakes has begun.
For decades, hotels and Chinese restaurants have made it tradition to offer new and novel mooncake flavours sold in creative packaging that they hope will be re-used as stylish handbags, collectable canisters, and jewellery boxes. If this year’s crop is anything to go by, the handbag idea has gone out the window. Jewellery boxes, however, have stood the test of time.
Among the prettiest is a two-tiered box from Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant Summer Palace featuring an elegant floral print against a dusky pink background. Once it’s relieved of the eight mini snow skin mooncakes (S$95) in flavours like Black Sesame Paste, Almond Chocolate with Pear Cognac, and Red Date Tea with Aged Mandarin Peel, it can be used to hold things cufflinks, rings and all manner of trinkets.
Man Fu Yuan’s popular rose-shaped snow skin mooncakes are also packaged in sleek leatherette boxes that come in two colours: Blush Elegance, with a pastel pink exterior, and Ivory Opulence, with a striking red interior. Its two inner layers hold baked or snow skin mooncakes whose flavours include Golden Peach and Pumpkin Seed with Lychee Chocolate Truffle, and Mangosteen and Flax Seeds with Pomegranate Chocolate Truffle. Prices start from S$96 for four baked mooncakes.
Fans of bolder colours might prefer Capitol Kempinski Hotel’s striking gold-embossed turquoise boxes, which you can fill with new baked mooncake flavours like Red Bean Osmanthus with Mixed Nuts or Black Sesame Paste with Egg Yolk. New snow skin flavours this year include Yuzu Osmanthus and Mocha Bailey’s. The three-tiered boxes come with detailed instructions for repurposing them into jewellery boxes. Prices start from S$188 for a box of eight mini baked mooncakes.
Shangri-La Singapore has partnered with homegrown craft-makers Bynd Artisan to create a special Velvet Box. The red jewellery box holds four baked mooncakes filled with Red Date Pumpkin Seeds and Bird’s Nest ($156). Every set comes with a sheet of vegan leather that can be used as a mousepad or brought to a Bynd Artisan workshop (S$68), where you’ll learn to make up to three custom keepsakes.
If you’re a fan of Peranakan aesthetics, you might be drawn to Mandarin Oriental Singapore’s single or two-tiered boxes, designed after the lovely wall mural in its reception area. Featuring pink and green floral motifs, they have green stained-glass lids that lend them an old-world feel. The hotel’s Exceptionally Singapore tea blend goes into the Chestnut and Almond baked mooncake that’s part of the Cherry Garden Four Treasures box (S$92), along with the Low Sugar White Lotus Paste with Tropical Oasis Tea and Coconut.
I’ve often wondered why there are never any lanterns in a mooncake bundle. Aren’t they the most cherished symbol of the festival for both young and old? Happily, the folks at Peach Garden and Hua Ting must have thought the same because they’ve included a pretty paper lantern in their mooncake boxes this year.
Hua Ting’s auspicious red jewellery boxes include an enchanting lantern and four White Lotus Paste Mooncakes with Single Yolk and Macadamia Nuts (S$68).
Peach Blossom’s Delightful Four Collection in Celestial Lantern Box holds a lantern just below its lid that could double as a bedside lamp. New to its line-up this year is a Charcoal Peach Long Jing with Okinawa Brown Sugar Mochi baked mooncake inspired by its signature peach oolong tea. At S$208, the set of four mooncakes is pricey, but in return, you’ll receive a S$200 Peach Blossoms dining voucher. Now that’s clever marketing.
The Michelin-starred Summer Pavilion’s box sets turn into ‘his’ and ‘hers’ vanity cases. Made of saffiano leather, these pouches are roomy enough to be used on your travels. As for the mooncakes, there’s a new baked White Lotus Seed Paste with Brown Sugar, Red Dates Ginger, Longan and Pumpkin Seeds number this year. Snow skin fans can opt for flavours like Green Tea and Lycheetini. Prices start from S$88 for eight mini snow skin mooncakes.
Reusable handbags may have gone out of mid-autumn style, but Hilton Singapore’s leatherette wine bottle holder is one bag we’d repurpose over and over again… if we remember to take it home after a few glasses of wine. The bag holds a pair each of Black Sesame Biscoff and Hor Ka Sai with Mochi baked mooncakes. The latter was one of our favourites this year. Hor ka sai, if you’re wondering, is a blend of kopitiam-style kopi and Milo. The mooncake rendition was velvety and not too sweet, with a pleasantly chewy knob of mochi in the middle. Prices start from S$88 for a set of four mooncakes.
We were tempted by Fullerton Hotel Singapore’s Two-piece Classics Baked Mooncakes Gift Set (S$54.40) because of its adorable red pillar post box packaging, a nod to the Fullerton Building’s former identity as Singapore’s first General Post Office. Contained within are the Low Sugar White Lotus Seed Paste with Double Yolks and Assam Tea with Lemon, Mung Bean and Raisin baked mooncakes.
TWG Tea’s Amber Rose Mooncake Collection makes impressive gifts. Each box comes with a pair of mooncakes in flavours like Blossom (snow skin mooncakes filled with French Earl Grey-infused white lotus paste and mandarin lotus cream truffle) or Amber (Amber Rose Tea-infused white lotus paste with raspberry pearls and a lychee confit truffle). The set comes with a canister of Amber Rose Tea, a blend of black tea with silver tips, rose blossoms and juicy fruits of the season. Available at TWG Tea stores.
For good, old-fashioned auspicious symbolism, check out the Wan Hao Chinese Restaurant’s red gift boxes with gold-stamped peonies. For extra splashy gifting, opt for the Premium Gift Set (S$248), which includes a 325ml bottle of Taittinger Brut Reserve Champagne and a quartet of Wan Hao’s best-selling Golden Black Truffle with Dry-Aged Parma Ham, Pistachio, and Single Yolk baked mooncakes.
If all you want is a sensible box of two baked mooncakes or four mini snow skin mooncakes, look to St Regis Singapore’s Petite Gift Set (S$65.80). Tastefully packaged in an elegant pale blue-sleeved box, choose from baked options like the new Pu’er Tea with Melon Seeds or snow-skinned Red Dates and Walnut Paste with Lychee Martini Truffle or Rose Tea Paste with Maple Cream Cheese Truffle.
Some mooncakes return year after year just because they’re that good. Case in point: Paradise Group’s Mini Baked Custard with Molten Salted Egg Yolk (S$68 per box of eight). Generously brushed with gold dust, they cut open to reveal a luscious molten salted egg yolk custard centre after a quick warming in the oven. Their dark blue lacquered box is also impressively elegant. Available for takeaway at most Paradise Group restaurants.
For many of us, mooncake season wouldn’t be the same without classic Champagne Truffle Snow Skin Mooncakes from Raffles Singapore. They’re back this year, along with new flavours like Chestnut and Tahitian Vanilla with Rum Truffle, and Guojiao 1573 Baijiu Black Sesame Truffle. Prices start from S$97 for a box of eight mini snow skin mooncakes.
New snow skin flavours (S$98 for eight mini snow skin mooncakes) abound at JW Marriot Singapore South Beach, all with a white chocolate truffle squirrelled within their centres. There’s a Tiramisu with Matcha Pistachio Truffle, Osmanthus Paloma inspired by the hotel’s Madame Fan Bar’s Paloma cocktail, Black Sesame with Creme Brulee Truffle, and Pomelo Mango with Lime and Elderblossom Truffle.