Every fifteenth day of the eight lunisolar month of the Chinese calendar, which falls on September 27 this year, the Chinese people celebrate the Mid-autumn celebration and a two day holiday. This celebration has such and importance in the Chinese history and dates back to over 3,000 years ago. The Chinese people believe a full moon is a symbol of peace, prosperity, and family reunion. On Mid-Autumn Festival night the moon is supposed to be the brightest and fullest, which is why the festival is also known as the “Day of Reunion” and the “Moon Festival”.
During the festival, it is customary to eat a reunion dinner, light up and fly some lanterns, and marvel the moon while enjoying some typical autumn food such as pumpkin, orange, occasionally roast duck, and most importantly, the mooncake.
Considered the symbol of the moon festival, the mooncake has a round shaped pastry, like the moon, with really thick paste-like filling traditionally made out of red bean, lotus paste filling, or other mix of beans. In some cases and the more luxurious types of mooncakes would also contain the yolk of a salted duck egg. And the traditional way of enjoying this dense cake is by cutting it in several wedges, and to have it over a pot of Chinese tea.
Today, there are endless creations of mooncakes around the world. Although still predominantly spread around Asia and Southeast Asia and during the moon festival especially, we now can see different kinds and colours of mooncakes, with just about anything that can be turned into a paste! Another popular rendition is the ‘snow skin’ moon cakes originating from Hong Kong, which uses glutinuous rice as the crust instead of the traditional pastry. The texture is similar to Mochi, and also commonly tinted to beautiful pastel or bright colors.
To try some of the latest mooncake creations this year, the Shangri-La Jakarta brings out pretty mooncakes with Green Tea Ganache, Sichuan Pepper Chocolate, Caramel and Ginger to the king of tropical fruits, the Durian.
In addition to the all-time classics of Double Yolk White Lotus, Pandan Seed Paste and Read Bean White Lotus, Pullman Jakarta also has some snow skin creations in their Makaron bakeshop.
Grand City Chinese Restaurant Sunlake Hotel & Merlynn Park Hotel brings out varieties choices of lotus seed paste, white lotus seed, red lotus seed, green bean & Nut and even Durian!
For gifts to your colleague and loved ones, we recommend taking one from The Dharmawangsa’s mooncake gift sets, encased in a vibrant red exclusive box adorned with beautiful blossoms motifs that makes a great gift for this special celebration.
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