Moon Cakes

[Pan]

[...]my favorite is the one made with yellow mung beans and with a duck egg yolk in the center, from a bakery in NYC Chinatown (sorry, i forget the name).[...]

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Where's the bakery located?

[hzrt8w]

Where to buy good mooncakes in San Francisco China Town?

There were 3 bakeries mentioned in San Francisco China Town in this Mooncake thread. Last week I passed by all of them. I have taken some pictures.

Eastern Bakery: (nn Grant)

They said to be the oldest bakery in China Town. I wouldn't doubt. Could use some uplift work though.

President Clinton was here... (sorry for the glare from the glass. The best that I could do.)

The window display at Eastern Bakery. Note that they show some real BBQ pork baos and bo lo baos at the window. The baos look pure white because they had been bleached by the sunlight over the years. (I don't want to know how many) Last year they were showing some age-old mooncakes too. For some reason, the owner decided to change out the mooncakes this season. These are freshly wrapped. Good! Should last another five years.

No line! They are eager to please, offerring free samples to tourists. "Sorry, I am just looking... (and have enough from the window display...)"

Golden Gate Bakery: (Also on Grant)

I saw a wall of people lined up outside Golden Gate Bakery - at least 20-30 waiting to buy something. (Must be good!) Tourists and local Chinese mixed. On the display window, they only showed a few pieces of mooncakes. Looked pretty good. Hmmm.... I am unwilling to wait for 10-15 minutes (at least) to get my bakery goods. I am hungry... but not that hungry... I will pass this time. Perhaps in my next visit.

AA Bakery: (on Stockton Street)

So here's my favorite bakery: AA Bakery. On Stockton Street. Oh, yeah... I know I may be biased. Whatever... My taste-bud is trained in Hong Kong. I just know what would please me. Hmmm... even a couple of tourists found their way to AA on their rental motor-tricycle!

Display of their bakery items inside AA Bakery. Rows of mooncakes.

After elbowing with other fellow patrons (that's one thing bad about some of these shops full of local patrons - there are only crowds and no line - you have to fight for your place: just like the motherland, they would say), I got my order in.

Double york lotus seed paste mooncakes... The moon is just half-full tonight... 7 more days!

Edited September 12, 2005 by hzrt8w (log)

[Tepee]

Golly! Those bakeries look so "lo-chiu-pai"! The Eastern one especially looks so ancient; are they manned by ancient-looking staff too?

BTW, what are their opening hours? Roughly.

[hzrt8w]

Golly! Those bakeries look so "lo-chiu-pai"! The Eastern one especially looks so ancient; are they manned by ancient-looking staff too?

BTW, what are their opening hours? Roughly.

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Some are *cough cough* more senior and experienced. Some are young.

Hours? Don't know. Probably 10am - 7pm. If the bakery offers a coffee shop and kitchen-cooked something-over-rice kind of thing, they probably open at 7am (til 7pm). Otherwise, may open later.

[Tepee]

  The moon is just half-full tonight...  7 more days!

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Er...may I ask why you are soooooo looking forward to the day itself? Haven't you had your mooncakes already and your dinner? Is there something extra special coming up? If it's food, you must share.

[anzu]

Price of a box of Mooncakes around the world

I am very curious:  how much are they selling a box of Mooncake around the world?  The price is driven by the market:  supply and demand...  whether there is a lot of demand or a lot of competition, and the local cost of living, etc..

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The local Chinese stores here in Berlin started selling mooncakes only this last week, so it wasn't possible to respond until now.

There isn't a huge range: Double yolk with lotus paste, single yolk with lotus paste, single yolk with red bean paste, and lotus paste without egg.

For a box of four, the prices ranged from eighteen Euros (double yolk) to ten Euros (no egg). In US dollars, thats $22 and $12.

Another Vietnamese-run place had Vietnamese mooncakes with a nut filling. The price was 2.50 Euros for one (=$3). I bought just one to taste. The filling tasted rancid, and I ended up tossing it . So glad I didn't buy a box of them.

For what it's worth, the mooncakes are not made in Europe, but are imported from Shenzhen. People were buying them pretty quickly. I really don't know what the Chinese population is here in Berlin. Most people who go to the Chinese groceries are actually Vietnamese or Thai. Maybe there are a lot of Chinese students, though, as Berlin and it's surrounding area has four universities (that I can think of, maybe more?)

There are not many stores selling mooncakes, and at the speed they were going, they'll probably be sold out fast. However, relative to cost of living here in Berlin, I'd say they are pretty expensive. For comparison, a bread roll costs from 5 - 35 cents (cents = Euro cents, not of US dollars), and a liter of milk costs around 55 cents.

[hzrt8w]

For a box of four, the prices ranged from eighteen Euros (double yolk) to ten Euros (no egg). In US dollars, thats $22 and $12.

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Anzu: Thanks for the interesting report.

A local Chinese restaurants that my parents-in-law frequent - yes, the same one that they visit twice a week in the past 11 years - has given my MIL some single yolk white lotus seed paste moon cakes.

This is the moon cake from "Happy Garden" (Tung Hing in Cantonese - means to celebrate together). Can you see their restaurant name on the cake?

Single yolk, white lotus seed paste filling.

I have to say that my wife and I were disappointed. The yolk tasted okay (don't they all?)... but the filling... didn't taste like much.

But we can't complain... It's free...

Edited September 16, 2005 by hzrt8w (log)

[hzrt8w]

This is the moon cake from "Happy Garden" (Tung Hing in Cantonese - means to celebrate together).  Can you see their restaurant name on the cake?

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Answer to the jigsaw pizzle:

[Tepee]

Say, I should think about getting a mould done in my name.

[Tepee]

One of our local bloggers did an excellent photo blog pt1, pt 2,pt3, pt 4 on the Mid-Autumn Festival:Malaysian style.

Edited September 17, 2005 by Tepee (log)

[Laksa]

Today's the day!!

Here's what we're eating: a single yolk mixed nut from a NYC bakery.

A nice change from lotus paste or red bean. Nowhere near as sweet.

[Pan]

Laksa, if you like the bakery, please mention its name here or in a thread in the New York forum.

[hzrt8w]

It's time. Today is the day. Now is the moment. The moon is bright and round hanging a tad above the horizon.

The double yolk lotus seed paste mooncake from AA Bakery in San Francisco. They also have their shop logo (Cantonese name: Wing Hing - meaning forever prosperous) on the cake. Like to play the puzzle again? Sorry it is kind of smudgy.

A A Bakery & Cafe

Address: 1068 Stockton St, San Francisco, CA 94108

Phone: (415) 981-0123

I have a quarter of the cake tonight. The lotus seed paste filling is smooth, fragrant, not overly sweet. It is done very well, much better than some other ones I had. I like this classic filling over other new ones.

[hzrt8w]

Kee Wah, which is a very famous restaurant making Moon Cake in Hong Kong, has established their US presence and has a website.  I had been to their bakeries in Monterey Park, California and was always impressed with their bakery items.  They offer mail order for Moon Cakes.

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A pleasant surprise... I was on my way to Monterey on Saturday for a camping trip and dropped by Milpitas for lunch, I found that Kee Wah has opened shop in this busy Milpitas mall:

386 Barber Lane

Milpitas, CA95035, USA

1-408-383-9288

I gotta have a piece of the "curry puff". Hmmm.... great as always. Their bakery items are the best compared to all the bakeries I have been to in California.

They still have boxes of mooncakes left. I thought they may discount them because the season is already over. No... still selling at the list price of US$27.00 for a tin of four. Same price for any flavor.

After taking a look at their updated website, I found that they opened not only one but two locations in Milpitas. It must have happened only recently as I have not seen their presence in the Bay Area until now...

Kee Wah locations

Edited October 3, 2005 by hzrt8w (log)

[Tepee]

Hz..what? No discounts for unfresh mooncakes? Shops here were offering 'mai yat soong yat' (1 for 1) the night before the festivities. During the weekend, at a friend's party, she served mooncakes (storebought); nobody touched it. We expect them to be on the stale side.

[hzrt8w]

Hz..what? No discounts for unfresh mooncakes? Shops here were offering 'mai yat soong yat' (1 for 1) the night before the festivities. During the weekend, at a friend's party, she served mooncakes (storebought); nobody touched it. We expect them to be on the stale side.

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Not at Kee Wah. Maybe they strongly believe in their quality. I also have heard that some high end eatery's strategy is never to discount on their products - they rather feed them to dogs or destroy them and throw them to dumpsters. They know if they discount their products after the season, customers would wait to buy at the last minute (or after the occassion) and thus would affect sales.

Would mooncakes go stale that quickly? Because stores carry them 2 months ahead of the event. Even if you buy them on the day of Mid-Autumn Festival, some are still over 2 month old. I bought mine a month before MAF from AA Bakery. They tasted just fine. Did your friend serve last year's mooncakes?

[Gastro888]

What IS the shelf life of mooncakes?

[Tepee]

Shelf life according to.....

The stores..................................till sold out.

Me, if not put in the fridge............1 week.

Stored in the fridge, fresh............1 month.

Stored in the freezer, fresh..........1 year.

If you look very closely at some lurking in the shops, you may see mould, even with the dessicant inside the pack. Not kidding.

Edited October 5, 2005 by Tepee (log)

[Gastro888]

Um. Wait. Maria's Bakery had those mini ones out all day long until they're sold out. And I know they weren't crankin' out fresh ones every day.

How do I know if they're fresh or not?

[Tepee]

I can bet my last hoong bao that the bakeries stop their production even before the Mooncake Festival. Gastro, did you miss having your mooncakes during the festival? If you want some fresh ones, get it from Sheetz, who may still be making them....

[Gastro888]

Oh gosh, thanks! Um, no, that's not the reason why I asked - I've some mooncakes I need to ship to Europe and I pray they're still edible and fresh.

I'd hate to give someone a tummyache unintentionally.

And I had my fill of mooncakes this year. I'd really like to try the nut and yolk mooncake next year, though. Yuuum.

What the calorie content of a mooncake? Anyone?

Edited October 5, 2005 by Gastro888 (log)

[SuzySushi]

What the calorie content of a mooncake?  Anyone?

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1,000,000?

[I_call_the_duck]

Stored in the freezer, fresh..........1 year.

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Do you have to wrap them really well? I unearthed a nut & yolk mooncake that was hiding in my freezer since last year, and it wasn't that great. It was pretty dry, as was not the case with its sister cake that I ate a year ago.

[Gastro888]

I think you'd have to wrap anything that's destined for the freezer really well lest you get freezer burn.

So no one has any idea on how many calories are in one double yolk white lotus paste mooncake? I fear for my mortal soul.

OK, my mortal figure but you get what I'm saying...

[browniebaker]

I think you'd have to wrap anything that's destined for the freezer really well lest you get freezer burn.

So no one has any idea on how many calories are in one double yolk white lotus paste mooncake?  I fear for my mortal soul.

OK, my mortal figure but you get what I'm saying...

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Verrrrrry unscientific estimate by me based on the fact that I get hungry again about four hours after ingesting 500 calories of food: half a standard-size, lotus-paste mooncake, with or without egg yolk, contains about 500 calories.

Think of a mooncake as a 1000-calorie bomb.