The wax and wane of mooncakes

This traditional Chinese pastry is now making an emphatic comeback as restaurants seek to outdo one another

The Xucheng Hotel in Suzhou may look like the typical, nondescript Chinese State-owned four-star hotel, but its fame among the locals certainly supersedes its uninspiring facade and interiors.

Widely considered to be one of the best mooncake makers in the city, the hotel's main restaurant - it does not even have a name - is helmed by chef Pan Xiaomin who showed no lack of candor when asked about his kitchen's rise to fame which started in the late 1990s.