MOONCAKE MEDLEY FROM TAO CHINESE CUISINE

 

Mooncake lovers will see red this year at Tao Chinese Cuisine with Dim Sum Chef Lo Tian Sion proffering his Scarlet Baked Snow Skin with Pandan Salted Egg Bean Paste and Beetroot Powder Mooncake (RM30 each). The unusual mooncake skin bears ripples of red and white; its unique taste stems from a combination of almond and bean flour. Inside the savoury-sweet filling comprises a blend of pandan and salted egg bean paste.

Also once you go black, you’d never go back after sampling the Bamboo Charcoal Skin Mooncake with Assorted Nut Paste (RM32 each). It’s definitely an alluring treat to go nuts over.

Available until 27 September 2015, Tao’s classic baked mooncakes in five exquisite variants (from RM28 each) starting with White Lotus Paste with Almonds and Single Salted Egg Yolk and six mini snow skin ones (from RM20 per piece) should furnish enough shine for the Mid-Autumn Festival. 

The mini snow skin range touts inventive flavours of Mini “Red Prawn” Durian with Egg Cream (Custard), Mini Chestnut Paste with Diced Hawthorn and Pineapple Paste, Mini Tiramisu Paste with Assorted Honey Nuts, and Mini Peanut Butter Snow Skin with Japanese Purple Potato Paste and Yam Omachi.

 

Other noteworthy choices to try include Pandan Coconut Floss Paste with Single Yolk or the Mini Yam and White Skin Mooncake with Pumpkin and Green Tea Paste.

Starting 28 September to 11 October, diners at Tao can look forward to the IHG Culinary Journey, a dining experience featuring Singapore celeb chef Sam Leong. Drawn from his personal culinary journey into Cantonese cuisine, Leong’s specialities are featured in two and three course menus (RM118 & RM138 per person respectively; minimum two persons per table).

Wasabi Prawns with Mango Salsa is the chosen teaser in this promotional menu. The sizeable crustacean is sweet and crunchy, spiked with hints of wasabi sharpness and balanced by some fruity salsa.

It primes the palate for the main course of Crispy Sea Garoupa in Superior Light Soy Sauce. Served with steamed rice, the fish is unbelievably crisp sans batter yet the flesh remains moist; its freshness clearly unadulterated. A table of 3-4 diners would probably get a whole fish to savour.

The next course consists of Sautéed Chicken with Black Pepper Sauce, Ginger and Spring Onion. Tender boneless thigh meat is used so you’d find the dish deftly executed although it may taste a tad salty if you eat it without rice.

Dessert - while pleasing enough - seems rather ho-hum as Chilled Mango Pudding isn’t something one writes home about.

Besides Sam Leong, six other guest chefs will be featured for the IHG Culinary Journey; each specialising in Thai, Australian, Japanese, Italian, Indian cuisine and bakery/patisserie for specific period all the way until 15 November 2015.

For reservation or more information, call Tao Chinese Cuisine, tel: 03-2782 6000.