Mooncakes in Melbourne

The Mooncake festival or Mid-Autumn Festival is on 22 September 2010 and the mooncakes are in some stores now. As a westerner, I am an observer of this festival. Due to my love of sweets and cakes, I've always been quite taken with these cakes. I love the tradition of them. There is beauty in the patterned pastry and lovely tins and gift boxes they are packed in. Each year I buy a mooncake with lotus bean paste, sometimes I get one with an egg, depends. I try and eat small pieces and save it but I usually eat the whole cake in a day. It's not because of the size, but because it can be quite an expensive cake.

I was having a mini-excursion in Richmond and had a look at Minh Phat Supermarket in Richmond which I had heard about but never been too. Near the entrance was a tower of tins containing mooncakes. There were two price lists from the different companies who manufacture the mooncakes. I checked the list of mooncake options and it was quite an extensive list. Mooncakes with lotus bean paste, with lotus bean and egg yolk, with 2 egg yolks, with 4 egg yolks and with 6 egg yolks! Also some with red bean paste. I've seen a mooncake with 1 yolk but 6 seems incredible to me.

There were two brands of imported mooncake at Minh Phat, Wing Wah and Mei Xin, both from Hong Kong. Great Eastern Food Centre in Russell St near Chinatown in Melbourne, had Wing Wah brand and some vegetarian mooncakes brand name Godly Jinding from China. I tried to find out more but no luck.

I ducked around the corner to Maxim's bakery to see what they had. They had no tins of conventional mooncakes but they stock in their freezer, Snowy mooncakes made by Mei Xin. I discovered these last year, well one flavour really, frozen black sesame mooncake with macadamia nut. There are quite a few flavours which look interesting. They are available in a pack of two or larger variety packs.

When I ate a packet of these last year, oh my goodness, the flavour of black sesame was sensational!

I have been dreaming of these and remembering the taste. The pastry doesn't have much taste of anything particularly but the filling is soft black sesame with some pieces of macadamia. I do believe that I could eat one of these every day and not be bored by them. I may have to buy another pack soon and then I will count down the days to Mooncake Festival time next year!