Tuesday, September 22, 2015

TWG Mooncake 2015 (Snowskin Series)

I'm excited to share with you on the mooncakes which I bought from my shopping session at Takashimaya Shopping Centre few days back. I go back to this fair at Takashimaya Square every year to fetch my lovely mooncakes home!

TWG Mooncake is always the top item in my shopping list whenever I fly down to Singapore. It's because I couldn't get their Snowskin series back in KL. If you are flying down to Singapore; you can actually purchase the mooncakes from their TWG outlet in Singapore Airport when you're flying back Malaysia. However, if you're flying back in the evening; they might run out of stock though. Purchasing them at their airport outlet is slightly cheaper compared to their outlets in the city :P

For this trip, I bought a box of 4 pieces from their mooncake booth at Takashimaya Outlet and another 2 pieces from their airport outlet at Terminal 1 transit area. 

I L-O-V-E TWG's Snowskin mooncake a lot because it taste very different from those common ones which emphasize on the flavored lotus paste filling. This year, TWG is offering 4 types of tea-infused snowskin mooncakes which guarantee to bring snowskin mooncakes to another whole new level.

Their theme for this year is the Autumn Celebration Tea which announced the arrival of fall in deep violet, setting the tone and the flavour of the season. Their gift boxes are customized to match the theme of the season on the outside but still maintaining the golden glam on the inside.

The 4 flavours for the TWG Snowskin Mooncake series are Pure, Illumination, Dragon and Celebration. A box of 4pcs is priced at SGD60 per box while individual piece is priced at SGD16/each. 



Dragon
The rose among the thorns in the box is the Dragon which is indicated by the red coloured snowskin on the outside with a layer of edible gold foil sitting on the top of the mooncake. This delicate and stunning piece of masterpiece is embellished with a 24ct gold leaf, filled with Red Balloon Tea infused nashi pear mousseline and a refreshing and crunchy blueberry marmalade white chocolate heart in the middle.

One of my little red Dragon survived the long journey home but I accidentally swing my paper bag while walking and the 24ct gold stuck flat on the plastic cover. Well, it's ok; since it's an edible gold foil; we licked the cover clean. Muahah!


Sorry for the bad quality picture below, but the mooncake is so delicate as it's made from soft mousse that it look a bit of a disaster when I cut it. But do ignore the look of it after you cut the delicate mooncake because the taste is absolutely delicious that you might want to lick those crumbs which stuck on your fingers. It has a very soft skin and filling which do not make you feel bloated like the ordinary lotus paste fillings do. I even got feedback from my eating partners that it taste as if they are eating an ice-cream mooncake! And I do love the authentic blueberry filling in the middle - they are not flavouring but pure blueberry compote encased in a white chocolate ball. It's heavenly!



Celebration
With the violet theme leading the Mid Autumn season, we must not missed the fun and laughter leading to towards the festive day but to celebrate it throughout the weeks to come. This Celebration snowskin mooncake is crowned with a splendid purple snowskin, filled with a dainty chestnut mousse infused with Autumn Celebration Tea around a mango marmalade white chocolate heart.

The mango marmalade in the middle is a bit sourish and matches the overall taste and the oumpph texture of the chestnut mousse. You gotta try it for yourself!


Illumination
Do you love TWG's signature Black Tea? This stunning Illumination mooncake is made to satisfy its loyal tea lovers. This exquisite black snowskin mooncake comes with a light nutty praline infused with the signature TWG 1837 Black Tea and an oriental burst of glowing orange marmalade in a white chocolate heart.


I tried cutting one of my Illumination mooncake into half to showcase the golden treasure enclosed inside this black beauty. This is one of my preferred flavour too and surprisingly that the orange marmalade paired well with the praline filling.



Pure
This satin white snowskin mooncake comes with a smooth dark chocolate mousse which is infused with fruit and flowery notes of TWG 1837 White Tea, with a heart of tangy blackcurrent marmalade enclosed in a white chocolate ball in the middle. I'm loving the dark chocolate mousse filling which is not too sweet and the tangy blackcurrent marmalde gives a kick to the chocolate mousse. Chocolate lovers must not missed this and you'll come back for more!



This is one of my must-have mooncake every year during Mid Autumn celebration; the exquisite TWG Snowskin mooncakes. Do note that TWG snowskin mooncakes can only last for 3 days in the fridge and it will turn bad after that even though it's sitting in your fridge. I tried to keep them in the freezer and it's still ok on the 5th day. Do not keep longer than that (even though it's in the freezer) or you'll be wasting a nice piece of mooncake to savour. I did that last year (6th day) and end up sending the one last piece to the bin.

My last box of TWG mooncake for this year and need to wait another 365 days till my next TWG mooncake ;(


Happy Mid Autumn 2015!

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Mooncake Shopping in Takashimaya Square, Singapore

Few days back,  I flew to Singapore for a day trip in conjunction with the Malaysia Day public holidays :) Was there for a mini mooncake shopping session at Takashimaya Shopping Centre.

Check out the participating retailers at their website. The above poster is from Takashimaya's official website :) 

Every year, they have a huge mooncake fair at the Takashimaya Square, B2 where you will get to sample and purchase mooncake from participating restaurants, local retailers as well as local and international hotels. It's one of the largest mooncake fair which I've been to (let me know if you found something more than this one yeah). In fact, I flew to Takashimaya to buy my supply of mooncake every year as I love their unique mooncake! You can also expect to see overseas brand like The Peninsula Boutique, Mei-Xin and Kee Wah from Hong Kong as well as SunnyHills at Raffles Hotel from Taiwan.


If you are flying to Singapore for mooncake shopping like me; do take note of these few items as you may not buy mooncake the same way like you did back home. Back home; you can walk to a mooncake booth and select the individual piece which you would like to purchase because it comes with individual packaging. Well, do expect to bring a box of mooncake with you from one booth to another if you are purchasing them overseas like me. Most booth have their mooncake priced per box of 2 or 4pcs instead of individual pieces. Thus, if you would like to have only 1 piece of that particular mooncake from that particular booth, do inquire whether they sold in pieces of 2 per box so that you don't over purchase. But some retailers (which I find quite rare) do sell them per piece instead of per box; thus do walk and inquires a few rounds before making your purchase.

And you can also see mooncake baked fresh from the oven at some of the booth in Takashimaya; do walk over to taste some sample from their booth as they are quite delicious - they are usually in my shopping list as they are freshly baked and taste good! And do note that some of the mooncake sold can only last for 4 days to a week even though you keep them in the fridge (trust me, I wasted some previous years although I kept them in the fridge), thus do inquire on how long can they last in the fridge or under normal room temperature. This shows that their mooncake do not have preservative compare to those which can last for 2 to 3 months. And I usually bring a cooler bag with me so that the delicate snowskin mooncake can survive the long journey home (although it's only an hour flight :P).

Here's some of grabs from the mooncake shopping session at Takashimaya Square...

The No.1 must-buy in my list (every year without fail) - TWG's Snowskin Mooncake.

My favourite Walnut mooncake from Amethyst Pastry & Cakes

I also bought some special custard mooncake from Kee Wah Bakery HK. 

Takashimaya Shopping Centre is located along Orchard Road and is accessible by Orchard MRT station and Somerset MRT station. And do check out the Food Village which is located on the same B2 floor too; lots of interesting Japanese goodies for you to shop!

Sunday, September 13, 2015

Gogi King, Solaris Mount Kiara

Few days ago, to reward my piggy partner; we went for a Korean Cheesy BBQ dinner at Gogi King located in Solaris Mount Kiara. We drove past this shop few weeks back on our way to another Korean restaurant nearby and saw this interesting concept of Cheesy Korean BBQ.

Their menu is simple with BBQ dishes, noodles, stews, side dishes and drinks. 



We had their Set A (RM55) which consist of Grilled Pork Belly, Pork Shoulder and Skirt Meat.



Their set comes with side dishes such as the essential kimchi, fresh lettuce, two ways salad, a bowl of hot soup and some cheese and egg on the grill. 

Here's what you will get for the Set A! Yummylicious pics ahead..

Refillable side dishes!

From the top is cheese, raw eggs, kimchi, garlic and green chillies. You need to wait for the cheese to melt a little before dipping your grilled meat into it. Just eat your grilled meat together with the cheese and it's heavenly. Well, our focus was on the cheese! For the egg, you need to wait till the egg is cooked first before munching it. And it's basically a steamed egg when it's fully cooked. Grilled meat + cheese+egg = YUM!

 It comes with a complimentary bowl of soup too.

You see, we love more side dishes to our meal and thus we ordered more. You might be wondering how these two fellas finished them but it was all wiped clean at the end of the meal. 

You gotta order these Mini Rice Ball (RM9) which comes in 5pcs of rice ball. You can find some chopped veggies in these rice ball and they are delicious.

We love Korean pancake thus a Kimchi Pancake (RM16) is a must-order whenever we dine in a Korean restaurant. It will be great if there's some spicy sesame sauce to accompany this pancake as it taste quite bland by itself. 

 Now, I would love some flavorful soupy dishes to accompany my mini rice ball. Thus, here comes the Seafood Tofu Stew (RM20) which comes with generous cubes of tofu! I think the soup flavor could be more intense ~ it's just a personal preference as we prefer dishes with stronger taste.

Our Cheesy BBQ dinner at Gogi King.

Overall it was a great dinner and something different from the normal Korean BBQ. But their meat could be even better if it's marinated with Korean sauces before being grilled. Service is great and environment is clean - not smoky.  You should try this meat + cheese BBQ!


No.1, Jalan Solaris,
Solaris Mont Kiara 
50480, Kuala Lumpur.