The Mid-Autumn Festival is just around the corner once again, which means Singapore and other places with vibrant Chinese communities will soon be revelling with convivial festivities centred around moon-gazing, hand-crafted paper lanterns, and most of all, scrumptious mooncakes. The yearly affair, also known as the Lantern or Mooncake Festival, is, after all, one of the most significant celebrations in the annual Chinese calendar, happening on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month every year.
In 2024, this day commemorating the end of a bountiful harvest season happens to be 17 September. The culinary star of the occasion — lunar-shaped pastries known as mooncakes — are traditionally baked and filled with hearty fillings like lotus paste and golden orbs of salted egg yolk, though this has changed over the years to include a host of newfangled flavours and flairs, each more creative than the last. Read on for a list of MICHELIN hotels and restaurants in the Lion City that have been imaginatively reinterpreting a time-tested dish for the modern era.
Summer Palace reminisces the bliss of joyful reunions with a mooncake collection swathed in blooming floral motifs. (Photo: Summer Palace)
Summer Palace Celebrates the Mid-Autumn Festival with Floral Blooms
Price: S$55 to S$268 nett
This Mid-Autumn Festival, MICHELIN-Starred Summer Palace calls back to the bliss of joyful reunions with a mooncake collection swathed in blooming floral motifs. Within these elegantly appointed boxes, you’ll find two mooncake selections befitting of the occasion — the first is the Summer Palace Classic Treasures box set, featuring the Chinese restaurant’s complete collection of baked mooncake classics. Think signatures that honour longstanding traditions like the Parma Ham and Pork Floss with Assorted Pine Nuts, as well as the classic White Lotus Paste with Double Yolk and Melon Seeds.
Innovative new creations can also be found in the Summer Palace Snowskin Collection Box, comprising all eight of the restaurant’s mini snowskin mooncake flavours.
Expect returning favourites like Mao Shan Wang Durian and Black Sesame Paste, intermingling with novel flavours like the Lychee Oolong Chocolate, Almond Chocolate with Pear Cognac, Red Date Tea with Aged Mandarin Peels, and Lemon Red Tea. These creations draw from the restaurant’s proud tradition of old-school Chinese tea rituals — a fitting inspiration for the holiday. The mooncakes are also available in a host of other configurations, depending on the size of your party.
To order, visit this link. Summer Palace is located at Conrad Orchard, Level 3, 1 Cuscaden Road, 249715, Singapore.
Shisen Hanten's mooncake collection this year is inspired by Japanese flavours and is placed inside an exquisite wooden box for gifting. (Photo: Shisen Hanten)
Shisen Hanten Centres its Mooncake Offerings in the Tranquillity of a Zen Garden
Price: S$86++ to S$338++
MICHELIN-Starred Shisen Hanten steps away from the traditional hustle and bustle of the Mid-Autumn Festival with a mooncake collection set in the tranquillity of a Zen garden, by way of presentation in an exquisite wooden box for gifting and Japanese-inspired flavours.
Here, classic baked mooncakes take the spotlight with consummate flairs like the Assorted Nuts with Jamon Iberico (a nod to the Cantonese classic mooncake with nuts and ham), the Double Yolk and White Lotus Paste, and Azuki Red Bean Paste and Pine Nuts. In any case, it’ll be your last chance to savour anything from the Sichuan-Japanese restaurant in the near future as it undergoes an exciting transformational odyssey of its own.
To order, visit this link. Shisen Hanten is at Hilton Orchard, Level 35, 333 Orchard Road, 238867, Singapore.
Andaz offers two new mooncake flavours this year: Truffle-damia Twist and Red Date Jubilee. (Photo: Andaz Singapore)
Andaz Singapore Takes Inclusivity to the Moon This Festive Season
Price: S$90 to S$95 nett
Encased within a mooncake box evocative of Singapore’s iconic skyline — plus some icons from Andaz Singapore itself, such as its bar’s signature teepee tents — are a selection of mooncakes that put inclusivity at the forefront, thanks to a quartet of baked mooncake flavours both halal-certified and low-sugar.
There’s the two new contenders in the Truffle-damia Twist — featuring white lotus paste with an enchanting hit of white truffle-infused olive oil — and the Red Date Jubilee, a locavore mooncake deliberately designed to emulate the local dessert cheng teng with longan flesh and red dates.
These join old favourites like the 5 ON 25 Signature Tea mooncake, where white lotus paste gets accented with a triple-whammy of floral osmanthus, rich oolong, and earthy Pu’er aromas, as well as the Silver Lotus++ mooncake, which is as classic as it gets by way of double egg yolks within a core of white lotus paste.
Pair these mooncakes with the hotel’s Golden Phoenix Tea, an oolong varietal that gets its name and terroir from Phoenix Mountain in Chaozhou, or some bottles of vino for an indulgent family feast.
To order, visit this link. Andaz Singapore is located at 5 Fraser Street, 189354, Singapore.
This year, bright, citrusy snowskin mooncakes take the centrestage of InterContinental Singapore hotel's Mid-Autumn Festival offerings. (Photo: InterContinental Singapore)
Tropical, Citrusy Flavours This Year for InterContinental Singapore’s Mid-Autumn Delights
Price: S$90 to S$198 nett
Get ready for a bright, citrusy Mid-Autumn Festival at InterContinental Singapore this year with new snowskin mooncake creations that lean heavily on tropical fruits. Moulded in the form of an intricate rose and cradling a chocolate truffle centre apiece are the following four new flavours: Golden Peach and Pumpkin Seed with Lychee Chocolate Truffle, placing crunchy pumpkin seeds alongside golden peach and a lychee-infused chocolate centre; Mangosteen and Flax Seeds with Pomegranate Chocolate Truffle, pairing the delicate tang of pomegranate with sweet mangosteen; the bold, pungent delight that is the Jackfruit and Quinoa with Lemon Chocolate Truffle; and finally, the Coconut and Black Sesame Seeds with Passionfruit Chocolate Truffle, where smooth coconut is featured alongside passionfruit-infused chocolate truffle as a well-balanced pairing.
An old favourite that will be returning for a limited run is the InterContinental Negroni Lychee Chocolate Truffle Mini Snow Skin Mooncake. As its name suggests, the Negroni truffle centre takes inspiration from the hotel’s beloved cocktail and will be presented in mini-mooncake form. Get these, along the InterContinental Singapore’s selection of traditional low-sugar baked mooncakes, in an elegant leatherette box with two attractive colours — pastel pink, or pristine ivory — for all your gifting needs.
To order, visit this link. InterContinental Singapore is located at 80 Middle Road, 188966, Singapore.
Mandarin Oriental Singapore's Snowskin Lychee Longjing Tea and Roselle with Cranberry Mooncakes (Photo: Mandarin Oriental Singapore)
A Celebration of Old & New Flavours with Mandarin Oriental
Price: S$56++ to S$102++
The time-tested pairing of tea and fruit reunite once again with the Mandarin Oriental Singapore's slate of mooncakes for the year’s proceedings, both in its traditional baked fare and pastel-hued snowskin gems. There’s the returning favourite — Cherry Garden Four Treasure Set, featuring a quartet of baked mooncakes from the classic — single and double yolked pastries with white lotus paste — to the novel, pairing tea blends with the aromatic likes of orchids and hibiscus, all encased in an elegant two-tiered box decorated with floral accents.
Those who prefer snowskin mooncakes, however, should opt for the Cherry Garden Six Jewels, where a box embellished with Peranakan-inspired green stained glass reveals six intriguing flavours revolving around — you’ve guessed it — tea and fruits. Flavours include Mango Pomelo, Lychee Longjing Tea, Red Bean with Pineapple, Purple Sweet Potato with Black Sesame, Roselle with Cranberry, and Brown Sugar Ginger Tea with Longan.
To order, visit this link. Mandarin Oriental is at 5 Raffles Avenue, Marina Square, 039797, Singapore.
The 2024 Raffles Hotel Singapore Snowskin Mooncake Collection (Photo: Raffles Hotel Singapore)
Raffles Hotel Singapore Goes Big on Snowskin for Its Mooncake Creations This Year
Price: S$97 to S$108 nett
Raffles Hotel Singapore nods to its own illustrious history as a time-honoured hospitality brand within a space of old-world splendour with mooncake creations that are both classic and captivating. To kick things off, it presents a trio of all-new creative snowskin mooncake flavours for 2024’s Mid-Autumn Festival. Each boozy mooncake pays tribute to a specific fine spirit with an equally weighty pairing of exquisite ingredients.
There’s the Sudachi & Blueberry with Gin Truffle Snowskin Mooncake, where the Japan-native citrus varietal is tempered with blueberries and the fragrance of lemongrass; Chestnut & Tahitian Vanilla with Rum Truffle Snow-Skin Mooncake, featuring the aroma of sand ginger infused into a luxuriant rum milk chocolate ganache; and, to cap it all off, the limited-edition Guojiao 1573 Baijiu Black Sesame Truffle Snowskin Mooncake, anchored on a commemorative baijiu and uplifted with chocolate and black sesame.
These are accompanied by returning favourites à la Raffles Hotel Singapore signatures like the Champagne Truffle Snow-Skin Mooncake, Sakura & Raspberry Truffle Snow-Skin Mooncake (inspired by Long Bar’s Sakura sling), and, of course, a medley of classic baked mooncakes, all available in a hand-painted box gleaming with floral tapestries.
To order, visit this link. Raffles Hotel Singapore is located at 1 Beach Road, 189673, Singapore.
The Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore's mooncake boxes double as vanity cases that are perfect for travelling. (Photo: The Ritz-Carlton Millennia Singapore)
The Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore Launches "His" And "Hers" Mooncake Vanity Boxes
Price: S$88 to S$110 nett
Yes, you read that right. The luxurious Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore will be hallmarking its 2024 selection of hearty mooncakes with a novel take on mooncake box sustainability — one driven by saffiano leather and velvet, thereby creating a mooncake carrying case that doubles up as a lightweight and, dare we say, refined travel vanity pouch, appealing to both "he" and "she" in taupe and red respectively.
As for the hotel’s selection of mooncake flavours, expect plenty of the classics both in terms of baked and snowskin fare. We’re talking favourites like the Mini Snowskin Green Tea, Mini Snowskin Lycheetini, and the Snowskin “Mao Shan Wang” Durian mooncake, contrasted with an all-new baked white lotus seed paste mooncake packed with healthful ingredients like brown sugar, red dates, ginger, longan, and pumpkin seeds.
To order, visit this link. The Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore is located at 7 Raffles Avenue, 039799, Singapore.
