After spending the afternoon in Aquaria KLCC with Baby C, we popped into Lai Po Heen in Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur to get some mooncakes. Ever since I saw Boolicious's tweet about salted caramel mooncakes from MO, I have been wanting to get my hands on them since I love all things salted caramel. Lai Po Heen have displayed some of their mooncakes at the entrance of the restaurant, with two samples of baked mooncakes for their customers / guests to try. Service was a little slow (it was the end of their lunch service), and they also got my orders mixed up but luckily I checked before we left the restaurant.
Classic decor at Lai Po Heen
Mooncake tasting
There are a total of 16 flavours available here, ranging from large, medium and mini sized mooncakes. I purchased 3 mini snow skin mooncakes, 1 medium mooncake and 1 large mooncake. Since this is our first time buying Mandarin Oriental mooncakes, I was slightly taken aback when I saw how small the mini mooncakes were. I measured it, and they were only 4cm in diameter hence making this the smallest mooncake I've come across this year.
Tastewise, both the Mini Snow Skin with Green Tea and Almonds and Mini Snow Skin with Honeydew Flavoured Lotus Paste were pretty good. I did not mention to my mum what flavours they were, but she managed to suss it out after taking a bite since the flavours were quite evident. The filling was also very smooth. Just wish they made them a little bigger.
Mini Snow Skin with Green Tea and Almonds (RM12+)
Mini Snow Skin with Honeydew Flavoured Lotus Paste (RM12+)
The Mini Snow Skin Mooncake with Durian Paste (RM13+) was too mushy though it tasted quite nice. I had trouble getting it out the box and even more while trying to cut it. I know durian mooncakes are usually softer, but this was way too soft.
We only managed to get a small piece each since they were so small
So far this year most of the egg yolks I've eaten out of the baked mooncakes have been a little dry. The one from MO's baked mooncake with lotus paste and twin egg yolks (RM24.50+) fared a little better. The lotus paste though is very fragrant and smooth, so thumbs up. We also managed to sample the Baked Mooncake with White Lotus Paste (RM23.50+) and Baked Mooncake with Diced Chicken Ham and Almond (RM24.50+) at the restaurant and we liked them both.
And finally, the Dark Chocolate Mooncake with Salted Caramel Ganache (RM18+). I'm not sure why this is called a mooncake and also why it is categorised as a medium mooncake. I measured it and it's exactly the same size as the mini mooncake (4cm). The only "mooncake" thing about this is the shape. It is more of a chocolate than anything else... neither baked nor snow skin, but coated with dark chocolate. The girl from Lai Po Heen did not tell us how to store this mooncake, hence we refridgerated it.. however I think you're supposed to leave it out for a bit before eating it so that the ganache filling will be soft when you consume it. Anyway, it was a good chocolate but the salted caramel ganache would be nicer if the salt was more evident.
Chocolate or mooncake?
Lai Po Heen's mooncakes are available at The Mandarin Cake Shop, Lai Po Heen and 1Utama Shopping Centre. From 1 August - 12 September 2011.
Full set of photos can be viewed here.
Location: Lai Po Heen, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Kuala Lumpur City Centre, 50088 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Tel: 03-2179 8885
lol, 4cm mooncake for 12RM+, the standard of MO :D
ReplyDeletehey not sure if u r aware of this but this post the exact same one was posted here too http://food.bonology.com/
ReplyDeleteDevil loves the pandan-flavoured mini snowskin mooncakes from Mandarin Oriental - don't tell me they don't have them this year? Oh no...
ReplyDeleteI prefer the green tea one myself. And yes, they weren't kidding when they called it a MINI mooncake, eh? A mouthful and not more... :P
Looks fabulous!! I think they are too small tho. Cumi and I finished the tray from the Ritz, just like that!!
ReplyDeleteFui: The flavours were nice though... but they need to be bigger so I can eat more! :P
ReplyDeleteJune: Hey there, thanks for letting me know. I am aware of this, that person has been copying many blogs for quite some time now, but what can we do about it? Sigh.
ReplyDeleteKenny: Oh they still do the pandan flavour in snow skin so you can get it still for Devil this yr :) These mooncakes are definitely NOT for sharing :P
ReplyDeleteCiki: Hehe, are the Ritz ones as small as these?
ReplyDelete*drools* I can see that the paste is so smooth and not dry... so, which place punya mooncakes do you think is the best? ^^
ReplyDeleteMelissa: So far the best snow skin mooncake for me is Flower Drum from Hilton KL. For baked, my fav is from Shang Palace, Shangri-la. Most of the hotels will be showcasing their mooncakes in the shopping malls soon - MidValley one's start tomorrow so I'm going to go sample more mooncakes and buy more :)
ReplyDeletei remember trying the chocolate mooncake. :)
ReplyDeleteand baby sumo, i second your choices. best snow skin is flower drum. best baked mooncake is shangpalace. :)
am so tempted to get the salted caramel mooncake! must resist, must resist :D i like small mooncakes though. they're really convenient and cute =)
ReplyDeleteMichelle: Oh did you finally manage to get Flower Drum from KL? :)
ReplyDeleteSean: Haha I guess if you have them all to yourself, mini mooncakes is fine. But I have to share mine with many other people in the family, who all love mooncakes as much as I do :P
ReplyDeleteThey should sell the salted caramel chocolate (drop the mooncake off the name) all year round in their Mandarin Cake Shop all year long. I think it will do really well.
I want the durian mooncake :)
ReplyDeleteoh my poor thing sum ppl dun have life i guess...
ReplyDeleteHarlo, 1st time dropby! :)
ReplyDeleteI used to love their pandan and green tea mini snow skin very much. But last 2 years, we felt their quality drop abit, hope this year will be nice again! :)
Hahah mooncake fanatic arent u?
ReplyDeleteI liked the Sunway one but I havent tried MO, and will probably stock up on the Flower Drum & shang' since you rate them highly.
I have been craving for mooncakes lately!
Choi Yen: Hehe go get it girl!
ReplyDeleteckiong: Hello, thanks for dropping by. You are Kenny's Devil right? :) I've visited yr blog b4 too, but can only read it if I use google translate. :P Maybe you guys can drop by at MV this weekend since many hotels have set up mooncake booths at LG. Can try try all the flavours.
ReplyDeleteRebecca: Told you I like mooncakes! Still waiting for ya to invite me go makan mooncakes with ya :P Just had Flower Drum again today and it really is damn nice.
ReplyDeleteHaha, yes I'm :P
ReplyDeleteThat's good, maybe should drop by MV one of the weekend, I love mooncake very much. Want to try Ritz Carlton one too.
ckiong: I was hoping Ritz would set up a booth in MV but they didn't. Guess I need to go into town to get them. They have wasabi flavour this yr.
ReplyDeleteHi... Do you know that you can get 20% discount with you MO Elite Club membership card? to know about the card ..pls contact me oceanfish55@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteHi Baby Sumo,
ReplyDeleteKindly be informed that this post has been reprinted on JoinMe.com.my, thanks. ^^
P/S: We have put your name and link credit back to this article.