WITXFOLLY

To celebrate the abundance and togetherness of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Peony Jade’s culinary team led by Chef Wong – the Original Creator and former dim sum pastry chef from the old Crown Prince Hotel, and Peony Jade’s dim sum master chef – is proud to present a range of mooncakes that display both a great respect for tradition and an enthusiastic nod to the future, and show that they are as serious about mooncakes as they are about serving up classic Cantonese and Szechuan fare.

We had the opportunity to taste their handcrafted and freshly baked Snowskin Mooncakes as well as their signature Flaky Teochew Orh Ni andTraditional Mooncakes, which were presented to us in 2 elegantly designed gift boxes.

Being a great fan of snowskin mooncakes, we were really excited to taste the 4 interesting flavours Peony Jade has specially created for this year’s Mid Autumn Festival:

(not in this photo: Chocolate Salted Caramel Glaze Banana and Walnuts Snowskin Mooncake)

Each one of these mooncakes is made to the chefs’ exact standards, and features a fusion of top-drawer ingredients, from Japan Kochi Yuzu, Valrohna chocolate to the new-to-market Black Thorn durian from Penang, with superb craftsmanship – made fresh daily with no artificial flavourings, stabilisers or preservatives.

The Chocolate Salted Caramel Glaze banana and WalnutsSnowskin Mooncake (SGD$49 for 8 pieces) had a playful pairing of the bitter dark Valrhona chocolate and naturally sweet Del Monte banana that was well balanced by the salted caramel. The crunchy walnuts also added an elevated texture and would definitely be the perfect choice for nut lovers.

Personally, we felt that the Honey Williams Pears, Organic Apricot and Raspberry Snowskin Mooncake (SGD$49 for 8 pieces) had a very unique taste where the delicate lush floral flavour and fragrance of Williams pears was contrasted with organic apricot and raspberry. If you love experimenting with exotic flavours, this one’s for you!

An obvious choice for durian lovers would be the Black Thorn Durian Nyonya Mooncake in Coconut Snowskin (SGD$76 for 8 pieces). It was a burst of delectable top-grade Black Thorn durian in every bite.

Nevertheless, our favourite of the lot was none other than the award-winning signature Cream Cheese Mango Snowskin Mooncake (SGD$58 for 8pieces). It had a fragrant savoury-sweet blend of fresh Myanmar Diamond Solitaire, also known as Sein Ta Lone, mango cubes with low-fat Philadelphia cream cheese – we could eat this any day!

But of course for the old-school gourmets, Peony Jade’s chefs offer the traditional mooncakes that are now baked with less sugar. The LowSugar Baked Mooncake with Premium Mother of Pearl White Lotus Paste &Single Yolk (SGD$33 for 2 pieces, SGD$59 for 4 pieces) definitely allows us to indulge in a satisfying treat but with less guilt.

And last but not least, of all the Peony Jade creations, the brand is known for their light-as-air flaky skin Teochew ‘orh ni’ baked mooncakes. Reviewed by Ms Tan Hsueh Yun, Ms Rebecca Lynne Tan and Mr Wong Ah Yoke of The Straits Times in 2011 and crowned as the best in its category, the brand’s Flaky Teochew ‘Orh Ni’ Mooncakewith Premium Fragrant Golden Pumpkin & Single Egg Yolk (SGD$33 for 2 pieces, SGD$59 for 4 pieces), reflects the deftness of the kitchen’s Crown Prince Hotel pedigree with its trademark light-as-air flaky pastry skin and the dense, creamy and fragrant rich yam filling.

Peony Jade’s mooncakes are available at the 2 Peony Jaderestaurants and at 14 locations.

For enquiries, call Peony Jade’s mooncake hotline at 6659 4159, 6659 4918 & 6659 4161, or check out www.pjmooncakes.com and www.peonyjade.com

Photos taken by yours truly and Peony Jade

sipei & jien