Mid-Autumn Feasting Guide - A Memorable Night with the Moon

The Mid-Autumn Festival is just around the corner! Everyone is excited to see their friends and families because it is a day of reunion and togetherness.

Let’s get everything ready to enjoy the holiday under the moon with your loved ones!

(Source: Smile Yogurt)

Sharing a mooncake whilst moon gazing is the best thing to do during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Cantonese-style mooncakes have been a staple for HongKongers during the Mid-Autumn Festival since the 1950s. Cantonese-style mooncakes come in different varieties, including the more traditional lotus seed paste and five-kernels styles. Yet in the 1990s, mooncakes made a breakthrough - the never-before-seen snow skin mooncakes were born. Snow skin mooncakes are not baked, and use less oil and fewer sugars compared with traditional mooncakes thus winning the hearts of many. Custard mooncakes gained popularity soon after with their unique buttery aroma after baking. It’s soft, it’s flaky, and it’s loved by the younger generation. More brands are creating fusion-style mooncakes, such as coffee mooncakes, macaroon mooncakes, vegan mooncakes and so on, creating many new and different mooncake choices.

Mid-Autumn Festival isn’t just about mooncakes, there’s a variety of festive foods such as pomelos, starfruits, ling gok, persimmon and taros that you can enjoy together with friends and family. Pairing tea with your mooncake tasting can cut through the greasiness and enhance the aromas. Try pairing a pu’er tea with a traditional single yolk lotus paste mooncake. The silky pu’er has digestive benefits and helps ease the heaviness of the mooncake. Floral teas and snow skin mooncakes are another great matches. The light floral aromas go hand in hand with the subtle taste of snow skin mooncakes. As for the popular custard mooncake, why not try pairing it with an English earl grey? The earl grey’s citrus and floral notes work great at reducing the greasy feeling of the mooncake.

(Source: Gong Fu Teahouse)

(Source: Feather & Bone)

Fine wine and the beautiful moon always go hand in hand. Share a mooncake with your family, pour each other glass, and enjoy the Mid-Autumn night. Single yolk lotus mooncakes are sweeter, thus making them a good match with whiskey or cognac brandy. The higher alcohol content of the liquor can easily wash away the mooncake’s heaviness. The savoury and creamy custard mooncake is a great pairing with an off-dry wine, with the wine enhancing the mooncake’s yolky aroma. Snow skin mooncakes are not as sweet as other mooncakes and are best served cold. Matching them with a chilled glass of sparkling wine or champagne makes for an appetising and slightly acidic taste. Sparkling wines also come in lots of tasting characters, which is perfect for the huge range of snow skin mooncake flavours available. Pick your favourite mooncake and wine pairing and enjoy a tipsy night of moon gazing!