Photo: Ding Bakery
Cover Photo: Ding Bakery

Honour this year’s full moon with some of the island's most premium baked varieties

The annual Mid-Autumn Festival is deeply embedded in Chinese history, dating back 3,000 years to when emperors worshipped the moon and paid tribute to the goddess of immortality, Chang’e, in hopes of achieving bountiful harvests. During this magical time, the night sky becomes an enchanting backdrop for the moon as it shines its brightest and fullest. Its beauty is mirrored in the mooncakes we find gracing our tabletops—a round shape that symbolises the completeness and unity of a family. As you take part in a heartwarming reunion, share the love with our top ten traditional mooncakes.

See also: Chin Mee Chin Confectionery to Re-Open in Late August—Here’s What to Expect

1. Ding Bakery

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Photo: Ding Bakery
Above Photo: Ding Bakery

No Mid-Autumn Festival is truly complete without the Ding Bakery experience. The bakery’s award-winning recipes are consistently top rated on Google and popular food blogs, and it's no wonder why. A Ding masterpiece is made from natural ingredients that are low in sugar and free of preservatives, so you can sleep well at night and feel a little less guilty about indulging in your mooncake feast. While the bakery offers a rich selection of baked and snowskin mooncakes, first-timers must be sure to put at least a few classics on their hit list. 

For mooncake lovers who value a little twist to old school offerings, you will be pleased to try out the premium pandan jade lotus double yolk mooncake. Taking the smooth paste of a standard mooncake filling, Ding infuses it with a rich pandan taste, encasing a sweet centre of two egg yolks within. The mooncake’s skin is perfectly glazed and baked, and its fragrant pandan aroma will leave you with no doubt that this is your next go-to mooncake flavour. To top it all off, Ding’s mooncakes are packaged beautifully in boxes that draw inspiration from the design of ancient imperial palaces, bringing to life the rich heritage and history of its sweet treats within. Order here.

2. Lady M

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Photo: Lady M
Above Photo: Lady M

Lights and whimsy are the bedrock of spectacle in Lady M’s ferris wheel-styled Celebration of Lights Gift Set. The world-famous confectioners of New York have partnered with Kee Wah Bakery, a renowned Hong Kong-founded bakery that specialises in authentic Chinese tidbits, to produce an entertaining rotation of six mini mooncakes. At every level of the shrunken carnival ride, each mooncake sits like a passenger, eagerly waiting to be lifted out for the tasting. Chocolate cravers will go wild with the dense, cocoa-infused Chocolate Mooncake, a silky chocolate custard outfitted in a chocolate-infused mooncake pastry for your daily dose of sweetness. Order here.

3. Peach Blossoms

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Photo: Peach Blossoms
Above Photo: Peach Blossoms

It might seem impossible, but Peach Blossoms has once again outdone itself with a lavish new mooncake flavour that balances saccharine fragrance with earthy notes. The restaurant's freshly dropped lychee with wolfberries mooncake features a lovely lychee filling guaranteed to satisfy any sweet tooth. Its flavour is interwoven with the herbal taste of real wolfberries, creating a delightful blend of floral and fruity. Order here.

Peach Blossoms
Chinese   |   $ $ $   |  

6 Raffles Boulevard Marina Square, Level 5, Parkroyal Collection Marina Bay (formerly Marina Mandarin), S(039594)

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4. Hua Ting

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Photo: Hua Ting
Above Photo: Hua Ting

Straight out of the World Gourmet Summit (WGS) Awards Hall of Fame, Hua Ting restaurant has never failed to impress with their premium array of autumnal treasures. Masterchef Lap Fai puts heart and soul into his craft, gifting us with mooncakes that surpass standard boundaries of texture and taste, and this year is no exception. Mooncake purists will appreciate the white lotus paste with macadamia Nuts, a time-honoured flavour encased in gift boxes sporting Millennium Red and chinoiserie motifs. Order here.

Hua Ting
Chinese   |   $ $ $   |  

442 Orchard Road, Level 2, Orchard Hotel Singapore, Singapore 238879

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5. Cherry Garden

If you possess a Japanese palate, then you'll simply adore this restaurant's unique creation. Boasting a medley of beloved flavours is the newly launched traditional baked chestnut paste with Hokkaido milk, apricot and melon seeds. A bite into this Japanese-inspired delight ends at its ivory dairy centre, and is given the perfect texture with luscious chestnut paste and crunchy melon seeds. Order here.

Cherry Garden
Chinese   |   $ $ $   |  

5 Raffles Avenue, Marina Square, Level 5 Mandarin Oriental, S(039797)

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6. The Clan Hotel

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Photo: The Clan Hotel
Above Photo: The Clan Hotel

The Clan Hotel’s mooncakes are distinguished by its distinctive yet subtle sense of luxury. This is embodied in the culinary team's green tea mooncake that borrows the nostalgic taste and aroma of a beloved tea flavour. Best paired with an autumn flush of Tie Guan Yin tea, this tasty good delivers a satisfying burst of herbal sweetness that makes your tastebuds dance in delight. Order here.

See also: The Clan Hotel Singapore: Hotel Staycation Review

7. Jiang-Nan Chun

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Photo: Four Seasons Hotel
Above Photo: Four Seasons Hotel

Savoury marries sweet in this unlikely combination of smoked duck with assorted nuts and lime. Fans of Jiang-Nan Chun’s signature Peking duck can now enjoy the delicacy in the form of this trademark mid-autumn treat. Baked in a mesquite wood-fired oven, the mooncake spotlights the natural flavour of top quality ingredients including the premium silver lotus—a lotus that is young, fresh and healthier for all ages. Order here.

See also: The Best Peking Ducks in Singapore

Jiang-Nan Chun
Chinese   |   $ $ $   |  

190 Orchard Boulevard, Level 2, S(248646)

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8. The Marmalade Pantry

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Photo: The Marmalade Pantry
Above Photo: The Marmalade Pantry

Crafted with a low-sugar and no-lard recipe, the brand's exclusive new mooncake collection symbolises a union of modernity and tradition. The pandan kaya with melon seeds mooncake is smooth and packed with a pandan-infused paste artfully mixed with crunchy melon seeds. At the centre lies the kaya paste that adds contrasting caramelised notes and fragrance to the filling. Packaged in stylish handbags, the unique presentation makes for a multi-faceted gift of food and fashion for your loved ones this mid-autumn. Order here.

9. Mitzo

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Photo: Mitzo
Above Photo: Mitzo

Mitzo’s treats of tradition are made from the freshest ingredients and designed for sharing amongst family and friends. Incorporating a well-loved Chinese dessert taste, the baked yam mooncake remains one of the restaurant’s top recommended delicacies, featuring a myriad of well-balanced textures and flavours. A sweet, creamy and earthy yam paste is wonderfully complemented with spiral flaky layers of buttery crust and decadent salted yolk. Order here.

Mitzo
Chinese   |   $ $

270 Orchard Road, Level 4 Grand Park Orchard, Singapore 238857

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10. Furama Singapore

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Photo: Furama
Above Photo: Furama

Bringing a dash of whimsy to your festivities, A Whimsical Odyssey presents the popular Sesame Sensation—a sweet and earthy taste that floods your mouth with rich sesame aroma. Classic and reliable, this flavour is bound to delight any sesame lover. The mooncake's pastel pink box can be repurposed into a trinket box for one’s knick-knacks, or as a pretty display piece. To further sweeten your mid-autumn spirit, you'll be heartened to know that part of the proceeds from the sale of mooncakes will be donated to Rainbow Centre for a good cause. Order here.
 

11. The Hainan Story

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Photo: The Hainan Story
Above Photo: The Hainan Story

The go-to place for all things Hainanese, The Hainan Story’s crafting of this season’s mooncakes draws inspiration from flavours that pay homage to its roots, such as the coconut gula melaka and white Lotus Mooncake. The mooncake injects a familiar local taste with coconut bits and palm sugar. White lotus paste is laced with coconut for extra bite and retains the distinctive caramelised sweetness of gula melaka. Order via WhatsApp here.

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