Story & photos copyright by Dr. Michael Lim The Travelling GourmetTM

The resourceful Travelling Gourmet tastes Marriott’s NEW Mooncake flavours like…

MOST creative Blueberry & Cheese Mooncake! Of all the mooncake flavours in all the hotels in all the world, I believe this is the ONLY one with Cheese! The idea of cheese in mooncake was inspired by Dieter Ruckenbauer, Director of Food & Beverage at the Marriott who explained with a smile, “Our mooncakes are all hand crafted with no preservatives and every person can find a flavour that they like.” I like the Blueberry Cheese mooncake with its slightly gooey durian-like texture. You can taste the cream cheese as well the flavour of the fresh blueberries.

Peach with Choya Praline Mooncake has the very distinctive zesty flavour of the Choya Japanese liquer in the praline. Choya is made with the Japanese plum called Ume and is very zesty & palate pleasing.

Rich Chocolate & Lotus Seed Paste with Whisky Praline Mooncake. This is yummilicious as the lotus seed paste is not overly sweet and the Whisky in the praline is no less than Chivas Regal Scotch Whisky!

White Lotus Seed with Yam Praline Mooncake. I found the bluish colour somewhat off-putting but taste wise it was very smooth with an aromatic aftertaste.

Best Sellers

Interestingly, despite all the media hype every year about all the new flavours, the best sellers, especially for corporate gifts, are still the traditional baked mooncakes with single yolk and double yolk. Try too the White Lotus Seed Paste with Macadamia Nuts and the multi-textured Chicken Bak Kwa & Assorted Nuts with White Lotus Seed Paste. In Hong Kong and Shanghai, the mooncakes are almost all the traditional baked mooncakes. Only in Singapore are there so many unique and unusual flavours. Bear in mind too that although Marriott make their mooncakes in-house, many others import mooncakes made in Malaysia, Hong Kong and China, then package and label them.

Pure “Mao Shang Wang” Premium Grade DURIAN Mooncake! This is something Durian-holics must have. Since 2011, Marriott has used premium Man Shan Wang Durian, instead of D24 for their Durian Mooncakes. This year Goodwood Park has followed suit. The durian is not pureed so you enjoy the texture and chunky bite.

I also tried some of Wan Hao’s Restaurant’s specialities like their signature “Char Siew” made with Iberico pork from Spain. The “al dente” texture with just the right amount of fat is most delicious!

Their new Dim Sum Chef also served up some wonderful Dim Sum delights which will be available in October. They all have Crabmeat inside…like Steamed  Xiao Loong Bao with Crabmeat & Chicken in a cute porcelain vase with soup,

and yummy Steamed “Feng-Guo” with Crabmeat, Chicken, crunchy Celery, Lotus Seed & Onion.

Bon appetit!

Singapore Marriott Hotel

Wan Hao Chinese Restaurant

320 Orchard Road

Singapore 238865

Tel: 65 6735 5800