See yellow,
blue, black, green and brown this Mid-Autumn Festival at Tao Chinese Cuisine.
Three seductive snowskin creations, an inventive Shanghai-style savoury version
and six classic baked variants by Dim Sum Chef Lo Tian Sion will be the siren’s
call for mooncake enthusiasts this year until 24 September.
Now making
the festive confection is no pie in the sky as Chef Lo demonstrated at the
media preview. In his quest to up the ante and to fend off competition, Taiwan’s
famed scallion pancake — a popular street snack — arises as the ingenious
inspiration behind Chef Lo’s latest showstopper of Shanghai-inspired Baked
Black Pepper Smoked Duck Meat with Yam (RM43 per piece).
We reckon
it’s a dome-shaped pie in disguise; a savoury temptation with a come hither filling
of crushed black pepper, smoked duck and yam mash. Just a mere bite of that feisty black pepper flecked bombshell and you’d be turned on your head by the zingy hot accent and tastebud-teasing textures that veer between
powdery-soft and buttery-flaky. Like any proverbial gem worth its salt (pardon
the pun), this unconventional showstopper is only available for dine-in at Tao
Chinese Cuisine to preserve its optimal taste and texture.
Enrobed
in a sunny yellow, unbaked glutinous rice flour skin similar to marzipan, the
sensuous sweetness of the durian and oats paste playfully piques the palate as winsome
Snowskin Durian Paste & Oats Mooncake (RM43). For durian-loving devotees,
the almost guilt-free, indulgent delicacy is bound to leave them moonstruck.
Chef Lo
then uses bird’s nest and butterfly pea flower to compose a pretty snow white, Marble
Snowskin with Butterfly Pea Flower & Bird’s Nest Mooncake (RM43). Rife with
streaks of eye-catching blue, the lotus paste at the sweet treat core also flaunts
a baby blue hue with bits of bird’s nest lending luxe taste appeal.
Meanwhile,
discover a matcha mooncake made in Mid-Autumn heaven with the debut of Snowskin
with Japanese Green Tea and Cherry Jelly (RM31). Imported cherries are lovingly
transformed into the mooncake’s tantalising sour-sweet heart in the pleasant
embrace of astringent bitter-sweet green tea paste studded with longans and green
tea-nuanced skin.
True to
the ‘once you go black, you’d never go back’ maxim, the bewitching Black Sesame
Bamboo Charcoal with Single Yolk Mooncake (RM27) will leave you spellbound with
its nutty, savoury sweetness.
Like true
love, the endearing charm of time-tested variants such as White Lotus Paste
with Single Yolk (RM27), Pure White Lotus Paste with Nuts (RM25), Red Bean
Paste with Nuts (RM25), Pandan Lotus Paste with Single Yolk (RM27) and Traditional
Mixed Nuts (RM31) can still hold their own and are unlikely to wane amidst the onslaught
of omnipresent competition for the hearts and palates of Mid-Autumn Fest celebrants.
Tao also
dresses the mooncakes up to the nines in elegant black and red gift boxes
adorned with gold stamped peach blossom motifs at no extra cost, with a minimum
purchase of four mooncakes.
For more
information, please call Tao Chinese Cuisine, tel: 03-2782 6128 or email: tao@intercontinental-kl.com.my
