Mooncake 2019

Despite having grown up with this Chinese tradition, mooncakes these days are no longer my thing.  I do have a sweet tooth, but somehow these festive traditional sweets just don't appeal to me... with few exceptions.  So I've been buying less and less each year... and as I'm once again not visiting the parental units for the holiday this year, I almost ended up not buying any.

Instead, I'm mostly taking what has been given to us just to make sure I have some.  Here are a few that I tasted out of curiosity...

We got a box from Lalamove (貨拉拉), and they took a cue from Kee Wah Bakery (奇華餅家) - who have been selling biscuits in bus-shaped tins for years.  There are three different flavors in the tin, and they are white labelled and made by Forgain Foods (富錦食品) in Shenzhen.  I had my expectations toned down...

White lotus seed paste mooncake with yolk (單黃白蓮蓉月餅) - I was looking forward to having something a little more traditional, especially when they decided to put only one yolk inside.  Alas, while there was nothing wrong with this, it was also lacking in flavor...  The lotus seed paste simply didn't have enough to leave a nice fragrance in the mouth.

Assorted nuts mooncake (咸五仁月餅) - this didn't fare much better.  Hello Kitty complained that the filling tasted of chemicals and preservatives.  At least the nuts hadn't gone off...

Mandarin Oriental mini golden lotus with yolk (文華 迷你蛋黃蓮蓉) - this was, of course, MUCH, MUCH better.  The lotus seed paste was full of flavor, and the yolk was much softer.

Just look at the oil on the knife after cutting!

The only mooncake I actually paid money for this year was just for kicks.  When I heard that KFC was releasing mooncakes this year - with one containing chicken - I knew that I needed to try just for the hell of it.

Spicy shredded chicken and nuts mooncake (香辣雞絲果仁月餅) - this was, shall we say, highly-anticipated... at least by me...

But this was so, sooo disappointing... I thought the texture was interesting as it was meant to be similar to the classic assorted nuts mooncake, but with the addition of chicken which felt like pork floss (肉鬆).  There was spiciness on top of the sweetness.  Unfortunately, the nuts tasted rancid and ruined it all.

The most interesting box I've seen this year has to be from Louis Vuitton.

The box opens up to reveal something reminiscent of a hot air balloon, perhaps one from the Montgolfier brothers.

The drawer slides out to reveal 4 chocolate mooncakes from Pierre Hermé.

Mooncake Infiniment Sesame Noir - there's a crunchy biscuit with almonds, pralines, and black sesame.  Not really liking the flavors.

Mooncake Infiniment Cafe - apparently exclusively made for Louis Vuitton.  Flavors were good.   But that bottom half almond biscuit was more akin to a brownie.

Mooncake Chocolat et Praline - this was OK.

Mooncake Infiniment Vanille - meh.

Honestly, this was the first time I tasted "mooncakes" from The Fat One, and I wasn't really impressed. Kinda glad I never bought any...