Today is the first time I’m spending Mooncake Festival alone in a long while. It used to be that my mother would make us have mooncake, tiny yams and that horned coconut tasting thing, which I don’t know what it’s called. We would consume this with good Chinese tea, sitting under the full moon.
So, I decided to conduct my mooncake tasting tonight.
Originally, I wanted just to compare the mooncakes I’d gotten from Hong Kong from Kee Wah and Wing Wah, since out of four people who spoke to me about mooncakes, the preference was split 50-50. But, my sister brought over a specimen from East Ocean, so I put that to the test too.
Ingredients to a successful taste test
- Mooncakes from various sources
- A knife for dissection
- Three big glasses of water
- An empty stomach
- Calories to spare (optional)
Visuals:
Here’s a side-by-side comparison of Wing Wah (L) and Kee Wah (R):
On first look, Kee Wah has that traditional dark skin mooncake. Wing Wah’s is much paler and less even in colour, a little patchy. East Ocean’s was the most visually unappealing, pale brown valleys and very dark brown, almost burnt ridges. The glazing of East Ocean’s crust is poor.
On looks alone, Kee Wah wins hands down. Beautiful, shiny, even glazing.
Okay, so here we have, from left to right: Kee Wah Two Yolk Lotus Paste, Wing Wah Two Yolk White Lotus Paste, East Ocean Two Yolk Lotus (I think it’s white)
Kee Wah’s skin is the thinnest. Wing Wah’s crust is thin, but not as thin as Kee Wah’s. Like Wing Wah’s glazing, the crust is inconsistent in different parts of the mooncake – some slightly thicker here, some slightly thicker there. East Ocean’s had the thickest crust, and it is thickest at the outer edges of the mooncake.
Here, again, Kee Wah takes the prize.
Taste of the crust: East Ocean’s was crumbly and salty. Wing Wah’s was too sweet. Kee Wah’s had this caramelized flavour that reminded me of the pig biscuits in the basket (only available during mooncake festival) that I got in KL when I was a child.
Over the moon: From these sections of mooncakes, we can also discuss egg yolk placement. This is a hard skill to acquire because as you shape the lotus paste, the yolks move within the paste. If you over manipulate the lotus paste or use too much force, it becomes displaced. And it’s hard to find the balance simply because most of us have one hand that’s stronger than the other.
Properly placed yolks means that if you cut the mooncake like a pie of equal parts (which to me is, 8 slices), there will be relatively even distribution of yolk and lotus paste.
But it’s not just because of taste. Visually, every single piece should look like it’s got a full moon in it.
Again from the picture, you can see that Kee Wah’s is too much to one side.
Wing Wah’s is too high and too much in the centre.
East Ocean’s is all the way to the outer bottom.
In this case, every mooncake failed.
The yolk in East Ocean’s mooncake had the strongest smell of ammonia and was hard in the centre. (And note that black-greenish discolouration of the yolk.) The yolks in the mooncakes from Hong Kong were much better, more creamy. However, Wing Wah’s was a bit more moist.
For quality of the moons: Wing Wah.
The Lotus Paste
Overall, I found the mooncakes from Hong Kong more sweet than the one from East Ocean.
East Ocean’s was the most disappointing, lacking any real flavour. Wing Wah’s was strangely salty. Perhaps to balance the sweetness of the crust? Again, Kee Wah’s stands out, the lotus paste had a more developed flavour, with caramelized after taste that was most pleasant. It had a nuttiness that wasn’t present in the other two mooncakes.
And All Together Now
Okay, having broken down all the parts, how did they taste when came together?
In all fairness, I want to do this in two parts. First, as they are eaten individually on separate days, without anther mooncake nearby. Second, as they are eaten against each other.
When I first tasted Wing Wah’s Mooncake, my first impression was this was a nice light mooncake. Moist, inoffensive. East Ocean’s had a crumbly texture that didn’t win many points, in my book. It was… okay, I guess, would be the best way to put it. In contrast, Kee Wah’s was rich and deep, flavourful, and has such a good aroma, but I did feel, perhaps it was a bit too heavy.
Now when you put all three side by side, the differences of the mooncakes suddenly jump up at you.
East Ocean is nowhere near the other two mooncakes. Taste is unimpressive, mouthfeel is not great. That ammonia filled yolk is plain disgusting and it smells bad.
Wing Wah’s light feel mooncakes suddenly seem insipid in taste next to Kee Wah’s, which, bite after bite, increases in complexity and becomes a much more interesting mooncake to sample.
And as you become aware of that slightly bitter caramel taste, a rich nutty flavour develops, and the aroma of a properly baked mooncake fills your nostrils. Kee Wah’s mooncakes just give you that much more to experience and appreciate. So it makes the most enjoyable mooncake of the lot.