Well, it’s that time of the year when I see the shops and supermarkets flooded with mooncakes, mostly from the peninsula but sadly, they are not all that affordable, the cheapest being AT LEAST around RM15.00 EACH going up to over RM20.00 and beyond…and those are the cheap ones!!!
When my parents and my mother-in-law were still around, I would go and pick one of those popular celebrated brands packed in their very nice special boxes or tins for them to enjoy. No, I would not buy any for myself. At best, maybe I would just grab a few of the local made ones, not very nice but at least, I got to observe and preserve the tradition.
These days, however, there are people making their own at home for sale and it sure looks like they are getting very good at it. I got these…
…from the shop near my house, only RM6.00 each, but the problem was though I am quite conversant in Mandarin, when it comes to the writing, I am buta huruf – I do not know how to read it. That was why I had to depend on the boss there to tell me what each one was – there were pandan, coffee, matcha (green tea), the one with a lot of nuts and what not inside and so on and so forth.
In the end, I settled for the pek tao sar/mung bean…
…and what I guessed from the sound of what the guy was saying in Mandarin, hazelnut…
Both were very good but I probably picked the wrong pack from the stack. I must have got all confused because there were so many flavours. What I thought was hazelnut came across to me like pandan with a hint of matcha (green tea), not too strong or I would not have enjoyed it…and it was a little less sweet than the former.
I am sure the self-proclaimed true blue die hard mooncake connoisseurs would be up in arms declaring in horror that the skin was way too thick. It seems that one criteria by which they would judge mooncakes would be how thin the skin is, the thinner the better.
I went back a few days later and this time, I made sure I got the hazelnut, or at least, that was what I thought it was…
It was more expensive, RM10.00 each and inside, the filling was a shade of black…
Obviously, it was not hazelnut but hēi zhīma (黑芝麻) – black sesame which actually sounds a bit like hazelnut in Mandarin. LOL!!! It tasted really great and the guy did say it was not as sweet as the rest and that was quite true, I must say. It was sweet but not that sweet and nice…and one can see from the second photograph that the skin was not thick but for RM4.00 more, I think I’d settle for the cheaper ones.
Well, I, for one, love the skin. I do enjoy the pastry with the filling and it helps in some small way to balance the sweetness. If they want the skin to be paper thin, almost not noticeable, they might as well just buy the filling and eat it like that, don’t you think? Yes, I am happy enough with these that I bought, no need to pay through my nose to buy those ultra-expensive ones and burn a big hole in my pocket.
They do have red bean paste too but my missus insists she has some kind of allergy and cannot eat it – it makes her giddy so I would never buy anything with that filling, be it buns or steamed paos. I certainly would go back and buy the aforementioned mooncakes to stock up for when the festival comes around just in case there will be no more left by then…but no, I would not be buying to eat between now and then – whatever it is, they are sweet, best to just nibble a bit each time.
SWEE HUNG (2.316161, 111.840441) is located along Jalan Ruby, in the block of shops on the right – next to a hair salon at the extreme end…and on the other end, to the left is the Kim Won Chinese Medical Store and Mini-supermarket. Kim Tak Co. and Ah Kau Cafe are located in the other block on the left.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
I prefer snow skin mooncakes or those flaky yam mooncakes.
Snow skin? No, thank you! No agar agar (jelly), no Shanghai mooncakes either. Flaky yam ones? Dunno what those are. We never had those in our younger days…and none of those trendy fillings either.
I always buy Cosway mooncakes which is to my liking, not overly sweet. I specially like their white pure lotus but these days, they add a salted egg yolk to it and cost RM17.90 per piece.
My missus is a member – I think we bought before a long time ago, not anymore, so expensive.
Thank you for this! Your post has inspired me to have mooncake with tea for lunch haha! Is it still Ghost Month there in MY?
Yes, that is why lots of weddings going on now – the Chinese will not get married in the Ghost Month.
I don’t buy and eat now that my kids are not here in Ipoh…. The most I eat is 1/4 and that must go with hot chinese tea, then no shiok! hahhaa… There are cheap and expensive ones here, yes, as you said, there are also many who have master how to do these in their own homes.
No matter what, must eat to preserve our heritage, our rich culture.
Seems the mooncakes are expensive but they also go crazy with the packaging over here. Seems just as important as the cake itself these days.
Sure looks like it! They’re not very durable though – I’ve kept some very nice ones but eventually, I’ve noticed that they are falling apart. Sales gimmick!