10 of the best places to try snow skin mooncakes in Singapore this Mid-Autumn Festival

Aug 30 , 2018

Two snow skin delights from Wan Hao Chinese Restaurant. Photos: Cedric Tan

Hotels and restaurants in the Lion City are producing their own mooncakes for the upcoming festivities, in flavours from mocha chocolate and mango to Champagne and cocktail truffle

Mooncake, the beautiful Chinese confection that has been indispensably linked with the Mid-Autumn Festival for over 1,000 years, is more than just a traditional sweet. From supposedly playing a vital part in the overthrow of the Mongols by the Ming insurgents in 1368, to conveying sentiments of value and respect to elders and business partners today, these treasured treats have journeyed far into the heart of Chinese culture and heritage. In fact, the festival is more widely known as the Mooncake Festival.

I remember a time in Singapore when the 15th day of the eighth lunar month was marked by only one type of pastry – the traditional baked skin mooncake with lotus paste and salted egg yolk. Younger relatives would present a simple box of four mooncakes as a mark of respect for my parents. We children would receive “piglet biscuits”, a pretty but horribly dry treat made from unused mooncake pastry.

Yan Ting restaurant, at the St. Regis Singapore, is offering four unique flavours, including red date wolf berry paste and jasmine tea paste.

Now, some 35 years later, there are now countless varieties of mooncake, from the traditionally baked ones with a myriad of innovative fillings – from red bean paste to nuts and ham – to the highly popular “snow skin” ones crafted from glutinous rice flour and given boldly innovative flavours ranging from durian to Champagne and cocktail truffles.

A multimillion dollar industry has been established to cater to the extremely high demand, which is based on traditional sentiment. Today in Singapore, countless hotels and restaurants produce beautifully packaged mooncake gift boxes a month before the festival. Having sampled more than 40 flavours of snow skin mooncakes, here are our recommendations from 10 of Singapore’s most prominent luxury hotels.

1. Wan Hao, Singapore Marriott Tang Plaza Hotel

Mooncakes from the Wan Hao restaurant include mango yoghurt, lime margarita truffle and green tea with Japanese red bean.

Creating unique tastes seems to be the mission statement of executive chef Brian Wong. His mooncake lineup for Wan Hao’s snow skin flavours this year include tangy mango yoghurt, zesty lime margarita truffle and crunchy mocha chocolate royaltine. However, my personal favourite is more conventional – the green tea snow skin with Japanese red bean.