Time for tea and cake, to mark a very Chinese festival

There can be no Mid-Autumn Festival celebration without mooncakes - those moon-shaped cakes with an aromatic filling that is a cherished childhood memory of every Chinese.

But in recent years, the frenzy to give these cakes as gifts have led to their mass production and the inevitable loss of quality. As a result many of the mooncakes now in the market leave much to be desired.

Luckily, there are still the honorable exceptions. The chefs of Shin Yeh, a Taiwan eatery, offer handmade mooncakes with typical Taiwan fillings to mark the festival coming up on Sep 12.

Five-seed mooncake is said to be the personal recipe of the restaurant group's chairman, Liu Xiuying. It has olive kernel, pine nut, almond, and melon seeds, besides mashed egg yolk and ham from Zhejiang's Jinhua.

Another variety uses Taiwan-style dried turnip, select cuts of pork, white gourd, white sesame and white bean, making for a mooncake that is sweet and salty.

In two other mooncakes, the restaurant used some Southeast Asian ingredients such as curried pork, and pandan leaf, for its distinctive aroma and beautiful emerald color.

The cakes are made with olive oil, and seaweed sugar, that helps tone down the sweetness. The outside is crispy, and the flavors natural.

A gift box of four costs 198 yuan ($31). The one priced at 388 yuan comes with a box of shy-jih-chuen, a Taiwan oolong tea. These discount prices are on offer till Aug 25.

Another restaurant group in Beijing, Xiang E Qing, prepares Yunnan style mooncakes renowned for their use of ham. They are made with diced ham from Yunnan's Xuanwei, besides honey and flour. Variations to this traditional variety include the use of matsutake mushroom, aromatic rose sauce, and nuts.

The restaurant also offers mooncakes with fruit fillings such as prunes and pineapple, besides nuts, raisins and mashed bean. The six-piece gift box comes for 198 yuan, and the 8-piece one, for 298 yuan.

While most Chinese wash down the mooncakes with any kind of tea, Gong Xiangtao, owner of Royal Garden Teahouse, says they are best paired with specific teas.

She recommends matching five seeds mooncakes with black tea. A cup of black tea or mature pu'er tea, on the other hand, goes best with the Yunnan ham mooncakes, and seafood mooncakes. The warming pu'er is a good counterbalance to the cold seafood.

Gong suggests using Chinese black tea to go with fillings such as chocolate and cheese. Such teas include Yunnan black tea, Lapsang Sauchong and Qimen black tea. For the more common egg yolk filling, the aromatic jasmine tea makes for a good choice.

Green tea goes best with the traditional bean paste and lotus paste filling, as both are relatively light.

And finally, she advises that white tea be consumed with mashed jujube and fruit filled cakes, as they complement the natural flavors.

IF YOU GO

SHIN YEH

6 Gonti Xilu, Chaoyang District, Beijing. Tel: 010-6552-5066

Xiang E Qing’s mooncake hotline is010-9913-5188

ROYAL GARDEN TEAHOUSE

Daily 9 a.m.-1 p.m. East gate of Xiannongtai. Yongdingmennei Dajie, northwest of Yongdingmen Bridge on South Second Ring Road, Chongwen District, Beijing. Tel: 010-6301-1612