With the Mid-Autumn Festival in full swing, our first ever #TatlerTableTalk series at Hilton Kuala Lumpur couldn’t kick off at a timelier season than this. 

For an afternoon underlined by mooncakes, afternoon tea and nostalgia, we have the always affable Soo Shea Pin, the local managing director and franchise holder of Anya Hindmarch and French Sole, to partake in the hotel’s seasonal Mid-Autumn Festival High Tea at The Lounge.

Samantha Lee and Soo Shea Pin partaking the Mid-Autumn Festival High Tea at The Lounge, Hilton

Joining her is Samantha Lee, a food artist who is taking over the world of Instagram by storm with her whimsical, artful plating. With over 700,000 followers from all over the world, this mother of two has a good head on her shoulders and is unperturbed by the attention she has been receiving since an international media spotted her beautiful art some three years ago.

These two ladies love their afternoon tea. Shea Pin, for one, loves her Western afternoon tea sessions in London, a city she travels extensively to for work and to visit her daughters. “Having afternoon tea, like now, gives me a sense of calm from my hectic schedule. I’m always game to slow down and have a cream tea,” she says as she reaches for the mooncake and smiles contentedly.

“Oh, this is really good,” she says savouring the traditional lotus paste with egg yolk mooncake. She has high expectations for mooncakes and low tolerance for poor quality but the sweet treats by Hilton KL gets her stamp of approval. Her other favourite is the red bean paste variation. 

Hilton KL's Mid-Autumn Festival High Tea is served every Saturday and Sunday, 2.30pm to 5.30pm.

While she enjoys her Western-style afternoon tea, she still can’t have enough of the Oriental tea time or dim sum. “I can have dim sum everyday with family and friends just to catch up with them and yet not feel so guilty afterwards.”

Samantha loves the fact that this East meets West high tea is just in time for her favourite season, the Mid-Autumn Festival. “I love mooncakes especially those with salted egg yolks. For me, the whole yolk in the centre symbolises the full moon. When I was a kid, I used to empty all the yolks from the entire box of mooncakes my parents received as gifts.” 

 

Soo Shea Pin is the local managing director and franchise holder of Anya Hindmarch and French Sole.

Every year, like Samantha, Shea Pin too looks forward to feasting on mooncakes as well as giving them away as gifts. “Don’t you think it’s such a joy to receive beautifully presented mooncakes that always have a good balance of tradition and modern style? Not to mention the matching paper bag it usually comes in. Now, that’s what I call a thoughful gift!”

“And it’s only celebrated once a year. For me, this festival is as important as the Chinese New Year. This one-of-its-kind traditional Chinese pastry is too good not to be shared with family and friends,” pipes in Samantha, and both ladies nod in agreement.

 

Both ladies agree that there's nothing quite like sitting down with a cup of tea, and some delicious treats.

Speaking of the upcoming festival, we ask the ladies what memories they have of the celebration.

“I have great memories of the the festival growing up. I remember the little lantern parties in our courtyard in the company of family and friends. We would bring our favourite lanterns and hang them up as we sit down to look at the full moon and enjoy the mooncakes with piping hot tea.”

It’s a simple gesture but to Shea Pin it’s a real heartfelt enjoyment of a beautiful season. “It creates a strong atmosphere of camaraderie and I love the sentimental mood of the evening, and drinking wine in the evening while seeing the kids playing lanterns has become a new culture.”

She admits that the celebration these days have somewhat become less communal and is of a smaller scale for most families. The gifting of mooncake is a great way to connect with loved ones, especially since time is always a constraint these days. “I am always very happy to receive mooncakes, it means I am being thought of.”

Food artist Samantha Lee.

Samantha learned of the legend behind the celebration from her grandparents and parents; and she’s of the opinion that these culture and traditions help strengthen the sense of community while maintaining one’s roots and identity. “It’s important to know and remember where we come from. I now celebrate with my children like the good old days and share dining_tatler_stories of how I celebrated the occasion in my younger days.

She grew up in a big family with her grandparents, aunties, uncles and cousins all coming together for a reunion dinner during the Mid-Autumn Festival. “Everyone brought mooncakes and we got to taste the different flavours, fruits and teas while watching the moon from our lantern-decorated garden.”

Upholding culture is important according to the ladies and we can all make it last in our little ways. “It does get harder to pass on traditional culture and values as some perceive such practices as old-fashioned but I believe we can all do our part to cultivate what belongs to  us while we adapt to the new changes,” says Shea Pin who also adds that it’s great to have restaurants, malls and hotels focusing on certain celebrations.

 

Clockwise from top left: Baked pandan paste with single yolk, baked white lotus with single yolk, baked red bean paste with almond flake and Snow skin "Flower Drum".

“It’s been an enjoyable session, especially with someone who knows food well like Samantha. An elegant and sumptuous presentation of extreme importance to create a joyful afternoon tea experience. Adding mooncakes to the Western high-tea is definitely something new to me!”

At the high tea, Samantha was all praise for the baked white lotus with single yolk mooncake as well as the special Heavenly Gold Snowskin, which comes with the Musang King durian filling.

Love the Oriental twist to the Mid-Autumn Festival high tea at The Lounge? Find out more here.