What is good about it is the not-so-sweet white lotus paste and to make it less boring, macadamia nuts are thrown into the filling for the extra bite.
Created by Executive Chinese Chef Sunny Kong of Mandarin Court Chinese Restaurant, Baked Mooncake with Mixed Nuts and Jamón ibérico makes a debut to the classic mooncakes selection. Being a non 五仁 ("mixed nut mooncake") fan, this is a surprise thumb-up for me. Often, I would complain the maltose syrup (that holds the nuts) to be very sweet, sticky and overwhelmed with spices but Mandarin Orchard's Mixed Nuts and Jamón ibérico is the complete opposite. Apart from the maltose syrup having the right amount of sweetness and spice, the nuts are fresh and crunchy. In addition to the nutty flavour, Iberian ham provides the savoury goodness.
Among the 4 flavours of the mini snowskin, the Purple Sweet Potato & Amaretto Truffle and Almond with Black Sesame Paste caught my attention for these are favourites of Yuan.
This creation is inspired by the much-loved Cantonese dessert, Yuan Yang, a combination of black sesame paste and almond paste. However, Yuan is neutral towards this for the sesame paste is quite rich and hence not as smooth as the classic dessert but we have to admit that the fragrance of the almond does make it outstanding among most snowskins.
Similarly to the Almond with Black Sesame Paste, the Purple Sweet Potato & Amaretto Truffle is rich in its flavour and the alcoholic white chocolate ganache brings about the smoothness and the additional oomph to the taste buds.
Back by popular demand, the Mini Snow Skin Green Tea with Melon Seeds Mooncake is a blend of green tea-infused lotus paste and crunchy melon seeds.
Mini Snow Skin Lychee Martini Mooncake, on the other hand is a very nice mimic to the popular cocktail, not forgetting that the combination of white lotus paste and alcoholic chocolate ganache is easily accepted by most.
In general, our preference is more inclined towards the baked mooncakes for the snowskin is slightly rough and dry in its texture, which is similar to Kueh tutu. However, having said that, I cannot deny the fact that the flavours that Mandarin Orchard has created for their snowskins leave the next deepest impression after Carlton Hotel's Marigold Snowskin for its flavour and strong alcoholic kick (after sampling 6 mooncakes from various sources).
The above mooncakes are available for sale at
- Mandarin Court Chinese Restaurant, Level 35, from 12pm to 10pm
- Deli Counter, Hotel Lobby
- outside Mandarin Gallery Main Entrance from 11am to 9pm
Many thanks to Ms. Janice Azupardo, Regional Vice President, Branding and Communications of Meritus Hotels & Resorts for the complementary boxes of mooncakes.
Mandarin Orchard
333 Orchard Road
Singapore 238867
Tel: 6831 6266
Website
8 comments:
I just tried the mini snowskins today fen. I thought the skin is pretty soft and not at all dry nor rough. From your picture, the chocolate truffle & chocolate ganache centres are hardened, while mine were oozy when I ate it. I think it's coz your mooncakes are not fresh when you had it. Either that or the temperature wasn't right (too cold) when you consumed it. The alcoholic kick for both the purple sweet potato and lychee martini snowkin mooncakes was quite strong.
Ice: Actually I am not surprise by your comment.We have encountered cases whereby mooncakes from the same eatery taste different when bought on separate days. Especially during peak session, there may be quality issues when there is mass production.
Hey Ice, just to let you know that we did freeze the mooncakes to ensure that the mooncakes are taken without much mess and we have been doing so for all the mooncakes but that should not affect the snowskin.
Since there is a duplicate of each flavour, the others are kept at my chiller, which is 3°C and the mooncakes are consumed on the day of collection.
I find that the skins tend to harden after being kept in the chiller. It's best to eat them 15min-1/2 hour after taking them out of the chiller. Freezing does affect the softness of the snowskins, fen, and they get harder as time passes. I tried these mini snowskins when I got home & they were really soft and nice.
I guess it was a pity on our side as the filling was good.
We did left the snowskins out at room temperature before eating them and I would like to think that snowskins in general varies from batch to batch as we didn't face the same problem with Carlton, Hilton and Jewels'. Those were distinctively softer.
You guys have eaten alot of mooncakes already. These were only my 1st mooncakes yesterday!
Haha but surprisingly, I am craving for the baked mooncakes more than the snowskins these year.
Any reasons for choosing Mandarin Orchard to be your first? I thought you are a fan of the traditional baked ones from old school bakeries such as 新东南 and 大中国, not forgetting the classic champagne truffle from Raffles Hotel so was quite surprised to see your comment here... =)
You are absolutely right fen. I'm a traditionalist & the only avant-garde (though not so avant-garde) snowskin mooncakes I'll buy on my accord is Raffles Hotel's/Fairmont's champagne truffle. This box of assorted mini snowskins from Mandarin Orchard was a gift. (:
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