KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 30 — With the Mid-Autumn festival coming up on September 13, it's time to shop for mooncakes for family and friends.
There are so many variations out there, one forgets just how delicious a truly well-made tradtional mooncake tastes.
Over at Seong Ying Chai, a brand started back about 60 plus years ago, you will find a selection of old as well as innovative new mooncakes to satisfy your cravings.
Last year, Leonard Lee Kim Fook revived his family business after a two-year hiatus. In preserving old traditions, the mooncakes are made fresh from scratch.
There's no mass production at this artisan mooncake maker. You will find them slaving over a large single wok, making their own lotus, red bean and yam fillings.
Behind the scenes, you will find a small team, including Leonard's mother Madam Tung Yoke Yin, in the kitchen.
Traditionalists can pick from their selection of baked mooncakes. There is also a Shanghai mooncake with its flaky pastry.
There are also crystal skin (ping pei) mooncakes with various fillings. For something unusual, the crystal chocolate paste is a good choice.
Leonard explained that usually chocolate mooncakes tend to be very sweet. Here, they mix their own chocolate filling, tempering its sweetness.
In the middle of the mooncake, there are mini sized chocolate chips which lend a nice contrast of texture with the soft crystal skin and filling.
For a magnificent gift, order the unique Seven Wonder Premier that debuted last year. The extravagant baked lotus paste mooncake with seven egg yolks is surrounded by seven pig shaped biscuits!
This year, it comes with a special wooden gift box, a collaboration between Seong Ying Chai and Lumbermart.
It's been a tradition for Leonard's family to use this mooncake to pray during the festivities. He explained that this practice was passed down from his ancestors in China, as they believed it will help the star-crossed lovers from the legend associated with the festival, Hou Yi and the goddess Chang'e, to reunite.
This year, Leonard has expanded this mooncake's offerings, varying the surrounding items.
One version is accompanied with koi fish-shaped biscuits. Another uses smaller sized baked mooncakes.
Seong Ying Chai has also been commissioned by Summit USJ to produce a bigger version of the mooncake for their Mid-Autumn event.
As the mooncake will measure around 15 inches in diameter, they had to specially hand carve a mould for it.
Newly introduced this year is the unusual Street Fighter mooncake. This version makes an impression with its unique pineapple jam filling.
The jam used is the same one cooked in-house and utilised for their pineapple tarts sold during Chinese New Year.
You will also be able to purchase the mooncakes together with a wooden board, another collaboration with Lumbermart.
There's also a fun and playful element as its name takes inspiration from the Street Fighter comic (Kai Tay Siu Pa Wong). The last Chinese character in the comic's name is the same as the one for pineapple in Chinese.
As a young boy back in the 1990s, Leonard would earn extra pocket money by re-selling nasi lemak at his school to fund his obsession for the Street Fighter comic.
Even though he didn't understand Mandarin, he slowly picked up the language by poring through the pages of the comic.
You can look forward to more creative mooncakes next year as Leonard is already planning the offerings.
The mooncakes are all made from scratch so limited quantities are available. It is best you pre-order to avoid disappointment.
As they will be closed on Mid-Autumn Festival, the final date for pre-orders is September 11. Check out the list of mooncakes available on their Facebook page.
Seong Ying Chai Mooncake, 191A, Jalan Hang Jebat (Behind Kompleks Selangor), Kuala Lumpur. Open: 11am to 6pm (Wednesday to Friday), 9am to 6pm (Saturday and Sunday). Tel: 019-3599177. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/sycmooncake/
