For the very first time, Ti Chen is offering its own-made mooncakes for the Mid Autumn Festival, which is on 8 September 2014. From the kitchen of Chef Yaw Kim Yew comes delicately crafted mini snow skin mooncakes as well as freshly baked traditional mooncakes.
Azuki Milk
There are stories and legends behind the making and eating of mooncakes during the celebration of the Mid Autumn Festival. The most popular of these is the hiding of secret messages inside the round mooncakes in China’s revolt against the Monggolian rule. Ti Chen’s mini snow skin mooncakes come in 3 shapes: round, oval and heart-shaped and different folklores are associated with these shapes. The round one is as explained. The heart-shape mooncakes represent the myth of The Old Man of the Moon (Yueh Lao Yeh) and the oval mooncakes are inspired by the legend of The Lady of The Moon (Chang Oh). Do read up on these fascinating myths if you are interested.
We love the elegant packaging of Ti Chen’s mooncakes. The tall oblong boxes are beautiful in their simplicity, nothing garish or overboard. The boxes are available in an arresting combination of red & black or just completely red. After all the mooncakes have been consumed, don’t throw away the boxes though, as they are ingeniously designed to double up as wine bottle carriers. Yes, I’m saving mine for that very reason!
Almond with Black Sesame Paste
Green Tea with Citrus Red Beans
Coming to the flavours, the mini snowskins come in Almond with Black Sesame Paste, Green Tea with Citrus Red Beans and of course, the must-have delicious Durian Custard using nothing less than Musang King durians. The Black Sesame Paste in its stunning white-black contrasting colours is my favourite, followed closely by the aromatic Durian Custard.
Durian Custard
For the traditional baked mooncakes, I love the Low Sugar White Lotus (with and without salted egg yolks) and their Golden Mixed Nuts with fresh crunchy nuts and they are nicely not-so-sweet!
Chocolate lovers must get the German Black Forest mooncakes for the dense chocolate used. The pretty pink Azuki Milk mooncakes will certainly jazz up your celebration.
German Black Forest
The mooncakes are priced at RM19-RM23 each for the baked ones while the snowskins are priced at RM18-RM22 each. They are available until 8 September 2014.
Chef Lai Chong Seng and Chef Yaw Kim Yew demonstrating how to make snowskin mooncakes
For orders/more information, please call 03-7843-1234 ext.6122 or email [email protected]
While we were checking out Ti Chen’s mooncakes, we also indulged in some of their dim sum. If you haven’t tried their dim sum before, perhaps it’s time to do so as Chef Lai Chong Seng and Chef Yaw Kim Yew make some of the best pork-free dim sum around this part of town!
We had some of their signature items like Steamed Prawn Dumplings, Chicken Siew Mai, Glutinuous Rice with Chicken and Wok-fried Radish Cake with Seafood. We went for second helpings of their Deep-fried Beancurd Roll with Cheese and Deep-fried Prawn Rolls with Jackfruit simply because the cheese and jackfruit were so sublime in those crispy rolls!
Deep-fried Beancurd Roll with Cheese
Deep-fried Prawn Rolls with Jackfruit
But the absolute favourite that bowled us over is the new item: Pan-fried Chicken Bun. The pastry is a delightful cross between the traditional fluffy sweet bun dough and the slightly chewy Szechuan dumpling. Aarhhh… we haven’t got the slightest idea how their talented chefs do it but these buns are really da bomb!
Dim sum is available at Ti Chen from Tuesdays to Fridays (12noon till 2pm) and on weekends (9am till 2pm). The dim sum are served upon order from the a la carte menu so that every dish is freshly cooked. Prices start from RM8++ per dish.
Ti Chen @ The Saujana Hotel
Jalan Lapangan Terbang SAAS
40150 Selangor
Tel: 03-7843-1234
Fax: 03-7846-2789