Besides the Lunar New Year, another major festival when the Chinese celebrate a reunion of sorts is the Mid-Autumn Festival. Although very much now a commercial affair (which festival here is not?), the Mid-Autumn Festival remains a celebration steeped in tradition for many. As a kid growing up in Ipoh all those years ago, I remember I’ve always looked forward to the Mid-Autumn Festival, aka Mooncake Festival as that’s one occasion when we would have so much food placed on an outdoor table, as offerings to the moon. After the prayers, we’d gorge on goodies like groundnuts, baby yams, pomeloes, candies, water calthrops and mooncakes, of course. It’s a feast that’s always memorable.
The Mid-Autumn Festival this year falls on 27 September 2015, almost 2 months away. However, Hilton Petaling Jaya will be selling mooncakes from 1 August till 27 September 2015. The chefs at their Toh Yuen Chinese Restaurant are busy churning out their traditional golden-baked mooncakes as well as their snowskin creations.
The 5 golden-baked mooncakes are priced at RM23nett each: Pure Lotus Paste with Single Yolk, White Lotus Paste with Double Yolks, Pandan Paste, Red Bean Paste and the Mixed Five Nuts. All their mooncakes are made with less sugar, which is the healthy trend these days.
As for the velvety mini snowskins, take your pick from favourites like Lotus Paste with Sunflower Seeds and Green Tea Paste with Red Bean; fresh fruity Dragonfruit Paste, mild Yam Paste and nutty Black Sesame Paste. The king of fruits is also featured – the fragrant and silky Musang King Durian Paste. The Premium Musang King delight is priced at RM34 nett each. The other dainty snowskin delights are priced at RM17nett each.
The mooncakes are sold ala-carte or in sets of 4 baked-skin and 6 snowskin mooncakes. For the traditional baked mooncakes, a box of 4 is priced at RM88nett. If you like the snowskin mooncakes, take home a box of 6 for RM118nett and the Premium Musang King Durian Paste snowskin mooncakes are priced at RM198nett for a box of 6.
If you have been to the refurbished Toh Yuen, you’ll see that it’s now more contemporary-looking with celadon as its colour theme. In line with this theme, Toh Yuen’s mooncakes are packed in their elegant custom-made celadon hued gift boxes.
There’s an Early Bird discount of 20% for purchases of 10 boxes and above before 15 August 2015. For purchases of 100 boxes and above, you will get 15% discount and 10% discount for purchase of 50 boxes and above. CIMB card holders will get 20% discount when purchasing these petite treasures.
Prices are inclusive of 6% government tax for take-away.
We recently had a preview of Executive Chinese Chef Ben’s specially crafted Mid Autumn Reunion Dinner dishes. Chef Ben’s own creation of Boiled Beef Ribs with Lemongrass scented Spicy Garlic Sauce was fork-tender with a nice balance of flavours.
The menu also includes Double Boiled Cucumber with Scallop Soup Topped with Green Peas, Baked Cod Fish with Wasabi Mayonnaise, Pan- Fried Lamb chops with Coffee Sauce, Chicken topped with Salted Egg & BBQ Sauce, Crispy Noodles with Tiger Prawns and the refreshing Stir-fried Scallops with Dragonfruit and Lotus Root.
Double-boiled thick creamy soup with a cucumber-wrapped dry scallop topped prettily with a crunchy sugarsnap
Sweet Flaky Baked Codfish paired with wasabi mayonnaise
Pan-fried Lamb Chops marinated with coffee sauce
Chicken topped with salted egg & BBQ sauce
Crispy Noodles with Tiger Prawn
Stir-fried Scallops with Dragonfruit & crunchy Lotus Root
Dessert was an east-meets-west Deep-fried Chinese Pancake with Ice Cream.
The Mid Autumn Reunion Feast is available at RM1,800 nett for a table of 10 persons from 1 -27 September 2015. The menu items are also available on ala-carte from RM30 nett per dish. Price is inclusive of 10% service charge and 6% government tax.
For reservations and orders of mooncakes, please call (03) 7955 9122 ext. 4073/4. Do visit Hilton PJ’s F&B blog, www.ZestPJ.com for their latest F&B promotions.
Toh Yuen
Hilton Petaling Jaya
Jalan Barat
Petaling Jaya
Tel: 03-7955-9122