Mooncake Fair at Takashimaya Shopping Centre

The annual mid-autumn festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month (i.e. for this year, it will be 15 September 2016).

For the past many years, many shopping centres all over Singapore have been holding mooncake fairs.  We simply love the mega mooncake fair at Takashimaya SC ("TSC").  In this 1,000 square metres event hall (Basement 2 of TSC), you will find more than 25 exhibitors from famous hotels, restaurants, bakeries etc showcasing their mouth-watering/artistic-looking mooncakes.  They not only compete in terms of taste but packaging and pricing as well.  Packaging is very important to shoppers who are looking to buy the mooncakes as a gift.  Lots of efforts are being put into the design of the mooncake boxes. 

From Regent Hotel Singapore

From Shangri-La Hotel Singapore

Sampling is available from most of the exhibitors - some are relatively more generous with their serving sizes. 

From InterContinental (Hotel)Singapore

There are many different types of mooncakes. Some of the usual ones are:

Traditional baked mooncakes (above) - A must!
With lotus seed paste/white lotus seed paste* and macadamia nuts/melon seeds
With single/double/4 salted egg yolks
With mixed nuts (not our cup of tea though but some people likes it!)
With lotus seed paste with pandan extract

Snow-skin mooncakes (usually taste sweeter)
With lotus seed paste/white lotus seed paste* and macadamia nuts/melon seeds
With single/double/4 salted egg yolks
With fresh durian (mao san wang durian being the most premium/fragrant) - Durian lovers are always willing to pay a premium for it.  Usually costs above $60 for a box of 4

Flaky skin mooncakes
With yam filling

* Less sweet but slightly more costly

Our personal favourites are (1) Traditional baked mooncakes (2) Snow-skin durian mooncakes! More on that below!

From Gin Thye Cake Maker

Top 2 rows: Traditional baked mooncakes
Last row (from left):  Flaky skin mooncake with yam filling, Moon tarts with lotus seed/walnut filling

We didn't try the moon cakes from the above booth so can't really give any comments.

Colourful snow-skin mooncakes from Four Seasons Hotel

Mooncakes that are freshly baked on-the-spot... the flaky skin mooncake with yam filling.  Nice...

We like the taste of the traditional baked white lotus seeds mooncake from Mandarin Oriental Hotel.  The skin is fragrant and the white lotus paste is just of the right texture and sweetness... After sampling the mooncakes from the different hotels/restaurants, we finally settled for the one below...

Traditional baked white lotus seeds mooncakes (with single yolk) from InterContinental Hotel.  It won us over in terms of taste, packaging and price ($48 for a box of 4 mooncakes).  Fragrant, yummy, great texture, just the right amount of sweetness! Nice rectangular paper bag too!

Mooncakes are best paired with hot Chinese tea.  There is a booth at the mooncake fair where you can get to sample some of the selections from Pryce.  Comes in elegant packaging and a variety of gift sets. We absolutely love the aroma of "Ginger Garden"- a homeopathic blend of Oolong with lingering hints of ginger and rosemary that is light on the palate, as well as "Vanda Miss Joaquim" - Tie Guan Yin with sprinkles of fragrant Orchid petals. The tea bags come in beautiful silken shaped pyramids. We bought 3 boxes at the promotional price of $55.

If you are a fan of durian mooncakes, you may want to give this brand, ""Kele", a try.  You may not be aware of this brand previously because it is the first year they are participating in the mooncake fair at TSC.  We sampled the mao shan wang durian filling which was really thick and creamy with that strong distinctive aroma.  Definitely on par with the established brands!  We bought 4 mao shan wang mooncakes from them at $58 (early bird discount).  Not too sure what the price is currently but mao shan wang durian mooncakes from reputable brands usually retail for $70 and above.

Charcoal snow skin mao shan wang mooncake

Best eaten frozen!  Heavenly smell and taste for a durian fan!

Apart from mooncakes, there are many other delectable pastries... Watch out for the calories and sugar though...

Kueh lapis and other pastries...

Happy shopping!