It’s that time of the year again! Mid-Autumn Festival is right around the corner on September 10, 2022, so get your lanterns ready, your dragon dances prepped, and your gifts for your aunties and popo ready. But most importantly, get ready to eat the quintessential moon festival food: mooncakes. If you are new to Hong Kong, you can read all about the history and cultural significance of the festival food item in our cultural guide to mooncakes, but otherwise, dive into our list of the top spots to get your favourite mooncake fix from.
Bien Caramelise
Everyone’s favourite vegan French patisserie is joining in on the Mid-Autumn Festival reverie this year. Bien Caramelise‘s first ever plant-based mooncake set comes in a set of four original flavours priced at $238. The ingredients offer all the deep intermingling sweet and savoury flavours you expect from a good moon pastry, but with reduced fat and sugar content, being made from nutritionally dense and raw ingredients like organic raw cane sugar, coconut oil, cashews, and maple syrup. Our favourites are the tangy Pineapple & Apple Jam and subtly decadent Local Young Ginger & Osmanthus. For $468, you can get a tea pairing gift set which matches premium MoreTea tea leaves with each flavour. Order early for a 20% discount until August 15, and pick up until September 11.
Shop D, 1/F Hentiff Building, 160 Prince Edward Road West (Mong Kok Flower Market) | +852 5239 5198
Kee Wah Bakery
One of the most recognizable and long-lasting bakeries in Hong Kong (it was established in 1938!), you cannot go wrong with the wide selection at Kee Wah Bakery. For a traditional yet lighter taste mooncake that has endured generations, the Kee Wah Egg Custard Mooncakes ($2,340 for 12 pieces) in Hong Kong are unbeatable. The silky smooth custard inside flaky, golden pastry, wrapped in their signature rabbit gift box, symbolise longevity. For a modern take, the bakery has launched an Assorted Nuts Mooncake with Dried Figs ($275 for 8 pieces), which features specially-selected imported Turkish figs mixed with dates, apricots, cashews, almonds, and cranberries, appealing to both Eastern and Western tastes.
Kee Wah Bakery, multiple locations | +852 2785 6066
Wing Wah
Declared the best by many, Wing Wah were the first to use white lotus seed paste as a filling for their mooncakes. Thus creating a traditional Hong Kong mooncake. It avoids the sickly sweet taste and heaviness of other mooncakes, instead providing a light taste and enchanting aroma, topped with high-quality egg yolks – and you have the option of one, two, or three! They also offer the classic Red Bean Paste Mooncake ($338 for 4) for those who prefer to stick to the traditions.
Wing Wah, multiple locations | +852 2477 9947
Koi Kei Bakery
This Macau-based bakery, which has 74.4% share of the pastry souvenir market in Macau, also has expanded its reach to Hong Kong, where they do some pretty awesome mooncakes. Combining the Portuguese and Chinese traditions, one of their best-selling mooncakes is the Portuguese-style Lava Custard Mooncake which are adorably shaped like little rabbits. Another hot favourite is their Red Bean Paste Mooncake with Mandarin Peel, combining the softness and sweetness of the red bean with the bitterness and tartness of mandarin for a kick!
Koi Kei Bakery, 56 Argyle St, Mong Kok | + 852 5491 0474
Tai Tung Bakery
Tai Tung Bakery, established in 1943, is one of Hong Kong’s premier cake shops, and their mooncakes are also incredible. While known for their decadent, confectioner’s sugar covered take on doughnuts, the bakery also churns out seasonal pastries throughout the year. For the full pricelist, you can check here but our favourites include the Wealthy Night Banquet Moon ($540 for one box) and the Lotus Seed Shredded Coconut Mooncake with One Egg Yolk ($336 for one box), two non-traditional Hong Kong mooncakes.
Tai Tung Bakery, multiple locations | +852 2497 2166
Hang Heung
Perhaps the most beautiful mooncakes, with intricate designs and beautiful calligraphy, Hang Heung knows how to help you stand out in the crowd. And they’re not just all show and no substance, their flavours are incredible too. Just try their Pure Lotus Seed Paste Mooncake ($212 for 4 pieces), the most authentic Hong Kong-style mooncake you can get. A flavour unique to Hang Heung is their Jinhua Ham Wuren Mooncake ($238 for 4 pieces), derived from the traditional five-nut mooncake which uses best olive kernels, walnut kernels, almonds, melon seeds, and sesame kernels, plus the salty Jinhua ham – creating an incredible savoury delight.
Hang Heung, multiple locations | +852 9306 2709
Dang Wen Li by Dominique Ansel
As a bakery from New York, pastry chef Dominique Ansel has put together a mooncake offering for this year’s moon festival that really hits at the heart of local memory. Six delicate mooncakes come into two flavours: Chocolate Custard Mooncakes filled with rich cacao custard and Classic Custard Mooncakes with egg custard are wrapped inside a gift box ($498) that emulates the lanterns that kids used to make with the thick leftover pomelo peel. Purchase gift box vouchers online or in-store and then pick up between from August 13 to September 14.
Dang Wen Li locations in Tsim Sha Tsui, H Queen, and IFC
Yong Fu
Upscale Ningbo cuisine restaurant Yong Fu first arrived in Hong Kong from Shanghai in 2019. The restaurant, which received its first Michelin star in January this year, has chosen 2022 to present its first mooncake gift box series, taking Shanghai’s latest trend of durian mooncakes in stride. The 6-piece set of Musang King Durian Snowskin Mooncakes and Blackthorn Durian Snowskin Mooncakes ($428 per box) are made with ingredients flown in from Malaysia. It’s recommended that you rest for 10 minutes out of the fridge for a classic cold durian cake texture, 20 minutes for a thick ice cream texture, and 30 minutes for molten lava texture. Only 1,000 boxes are available, so if you want to get your hands on one, act quickly and email yongfuhk@gmail.com or call +852 2881 7899.
Shop 2, G/F&1/F, Golden Star Building, 20-24 Lockhart Rd, Wan Chai | +852 2881 7899
San Lung Cake Shop
This old school neighbourhood favourite is one of the few places in Hong Kong that still handmakes and bakes its Hong Kong mooncakes fresh for Mid-Autumn festival. Their signature mung bean paste with chicken fat is a flavour and style not seen often in Hong Kong, but it ensures that there are huge lines outside their doors during the festive season. If you can’t make it for Mid-Autumn, you can also drop by their bakery and try out their black sesame cakes, flaky pastries, and peanut mochis.
San Lung Cake Shop, 68 Pei Ho St, Sham Shui Po | +852 2360 1359
Conspiracy Chocolate
You probably won’t find a less conventional mooncake in Hong Kong this year than the one from Conspiracy Chocolate. In fact, cake is a bit of a loose word here. The vegan, low sugar Conspiracy Mooncake ($488 for five pieces plus cacao tea) is inspired by the white wrapping of snowskin mooncakes, but is actually crafted from their own white chocolate. The filling is made up of dark chocolate, almond, and red date ganache. Imitating the lucky gold yolk is a tart yuzu and mango jam which has been seasoned with toasted green Sichuan pepper, so that it walks the border between sweet and savoury as you’d expect from a traditional mooncake. Refrigerated, the mooncakes last for up to two months, and should be served at room temperature.
Order online | +852 6624 0793
🌙 More guides about Mid-Autumn Festival traditions ⤵️
Header image credits: Yong Fu
