MID AUTUMN TREATS at HILTON PETALING JAYA

This year the Mid-Autumn Festival falls on 4 October and weeks before now, restaurants and hotels have displayed their mooncakes for the coming celebration. I know how the current economic situation is affecting most people – our ringgit has weakened so much and things have become so much more expensive these days. So, do people still celebrate such festivals?

I’d say most Chinese would still celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival come 4 October, albeit on a smaller scale for the prudent. This festival, fondly also known as the “Mooncake Festival” has always been something I looked forward to when I was a kid. Traditional lanterns made of cellophane paper and bamboo sticks were the order of the day back then. And the food, of course – mooncakes, peanuts, baby yams, pomelos… the lot. So, suffice to say, most people still upkeep the tradition every year – the Mid-Autumn Festival is still held dear… it’s a time for family and food 🙂

Recently I had my first taste of mooncakes for this year. Toh Yuen unveiled some new flavours of house-made snow skin mooncakes while retaining the popular evergreen baked ones. The new flavours of their 2017 signature snow skins are the Golden Mango and the Chocolate Pistachio Indulgence. I must say the Golden Mango is really good as the tangy mango centre with dried mangoes isn’t too sweet and leaves a refreshing trail in the mouth.

Golden Mango

Inspiration for the Chocolate Pistachio Indulgence came from the hotel’s renowned American Chocolate Cake. Chocolate fans would love the rich velvety chocolate ganache, bits of dark chocolate cake and fresh nutty pistachios in this mooncake. It’s pretty decadent, for sure. The snow skin mooncakes are priced from RM19nett each and RM98 per box of 4 pieces.

Chocolate Pistachio Indulgence

Besides these 2 new flavours, there are 3 other flavours to indulge: Lotus Paste with Sunflower Seeds, Black Sesame Paste and the Yam Paste.

Black Sesame Paste Snow Skin Mooncake

Lotus Paste with Sunflower Seeds Snow Skin Mooncake

Yam Paste Snow Skin Mooncake

At Toh Yuen, there are 6 traditionally baked mooncakes available. My favourites are the white lotus with and without salted egg yolk, the mixed nuts and the green tea with pistachios. Each golden-baked mooncake is priced at RM25 nett and RM108 nett for a box of 4. Certain banks are offering discounts for credit card purchases and for bulk purchases, the hotel does offer some volume discounts as well.

To celebrate the festival, Chef Ric Teoh of Toh Yuen has curated a 6-course special “Mid Autumn Reunion Set” priced at RM1,388 nett for a table of 10 persons. Here’s what the meal is going to be like…