Tim in Thailand : Search results for mooncake

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Mooncakes in Phuket Town....

What are 'Mooncakes'?

Mooncake (simplified Chinese: 月饼; traditional Chinese: 月餅; pinyin: yuè bĭng) is aChinese bakery product traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival (Zhongqiu). The festival is for lunar worship and moon watching, when mooncakes are regarded as an indispensable delicacy. Mooncakes are offered between friends or on family gatherings while celebrating the festival. The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the four most important Chinese festivals.

(text is from Wikipedia)

Wandering around in this period it was clear that it was a Chinese Holiday Season - there were Mooncakes in the shops. I wandered around and bought a selection!

The selected mooncakes were from:

The Metropole Hotel, Keng-Tin, Robinsons and Ko Hor.

The Metropole

Keng-Tin

Robinsons

Ko Hor Mooncake shop

Ko Hor Mooncake Shop was wonderful - there he was rolling, cutting, preparing, baking, glazing mooncakes - wonderful. This was certainly a special place to visit (but what does he bake the rest of the year)!?

I will visit again at the end of the month to see what else he is preparing in his obviously well functioning oven.

He was rolling the dense pastry and then filling it with a 'filling' - be it mixed fruit, Durian Paste, Watermelon - the number of types were tremendous

I took a slice of each one and had a bite....

I am sorry but - no thank you. The pastry was dense and also a little sweet - with some hot thick gravy I would imagine that these were very edible but they weren't.

Then the fillings of each one seemed to taste less of what I had thought that the filling was supposed to be... not a good experience with any of the mooncakes!

Swensens

Then I had a Mooncake from Swensens and it was not for my palate either - spent the next day in bed so I guess that mooncakes do not 'agree' with me.

So the winner was Ko Hor Mooncake shop because I could watch whilst he makes them.

Thank you.

View Mooncake Investigation in a larger map

Rain, mooncakes, noodles, mooncakes, Chinese Shrines, cheesecake and mooncakes

My itinerary was blocked because all of the rain this morning - and it kept raining!

This means that I invested time in digging the drain outside again, making pizza bases for later and then deciding that I was glad that I did not waste my money by buying a real DVD.

As the rain stopped it was lunch time - a Noodle Shop for me! But my first stop was at The Metropole Hotel where they have a large Chinese clientele then pop into the TAT office for the bicycle ride on Sunday and then to buy a Mooncake from the stall outside!

After this I went to the Hokkien Noodle Soup Shop next to Mee Ton Poe - for - Hokkien Noodle Soup - very good and I did like the Iced Tea - see the review here later.

Time for a coffee at 168 Cups - good coffee and Free WiFi.

After this it was time to go into Robinsons - I was told that they sell very good Mooncakes.

Then I popped into Keng-Tin for their mooncake.

After this it was time to walk to the Chinese Shrine where they were reeling a film during the Por Tor Festival last week!

On the road I came across something that I had never seen before - Ko Hor's Mooncake shop - I was welcomed in to watch one man make them all - fascinating and very special!. (this will have a single post).

Then I came to the Shrine - and it was being rebuilt! - Good Luck!

Then I went to the Por Tor Kong Shrine and then to Bang Neow Shrine to make a blessing.

As I left the Bang Neow Shrine to return to the main road through the back entrance I noticed that there was a new coffee shop opposite the side of Robinson's - well a Cheesecake Shop - Cheesecake by K.Reed!

The coffee and cheesecake were delicious!

Then off to Swensens to wait for Jemma - where I had an ice-cream Mooncake!

We left swiftly and returned home to make Pizzas and watch Scooby Doo - which was;

"Creepy not Scary"

Another wonderful day off - join foursquare to follow my investigations as they happen!

View Chinese Shrines in Phuket in a larger map

Moon Festival in Phuket Town (18-21 Sep)

This is always something that is worth making a visit - there is a great deal of information about the Festival and I thank the TAT for giving me some details.

The actual celebration for the moon (fireworks are going off as I speak) is actually this evening - Thursday 19th September BUT there was the beginning of the Festival set up in Queen Sirikit Park.

This looks like it is going to be fun but I will not be able to make this one - the photographs are of the stalls which were set up on the Wednesday.

Information below was used in a Teaching Lesson

The Moon Festival is held in honour of the Quan Yin (the Goddess of Mercy) and the moon – which is why it is always celebrated at the Full Moon period.

It is a Festival of Harmony because it is a time where all the family members come back to the home and they will eat the Mooncakes together.

The Mooncake

Traditionally the Mooncake was a full rounded pastry – approximately 10 cm in diameter and 4/5 cm thick.

The filling was usually made of read bean, Chinese peanuts and spices and a lotus seed.

Many of the more expensive Mooncakes would be baked with a salted duck egg in the middle – giving it a beautiful pattern when it was cut.

Now you are able to purchase the Mooncake with a number of different fillings - Swensens ice cream also make one!

Ko Hor Mooncake Shop

Do you want to see them being made? Phuket Old Town (near Robinsons)

A wonderful place to visit.

Mooncakes in Bangkok

On having lunch at the Siam Paragon I was reminded that it was the Mooncake Festival.

After looking through all the fliers and reading where to buy a Mooncake in Bangkok I chose to go to W Bangkok for a peanut butter mooncake and a pot of tea. But I was too late - I had no time...

So I was surprised to see a stand from the W Bangkok at Snapbox in the Park Ventures where I had lunch!

I had to try a peanut butter one - especially as my last exploration into mooncakes in Phuket did not have good results.

Wonderful - I purchased one to take home and share.

Chinese mooncake festival

Did you have a mooncake to celebrate the Chinese mooncake festival?

The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the most important holidays in Chinese culture; its popularity is on par with that of Chinese New Year. The history of the festival dates back over 3,000 years

Por Tor final day 2015

The Final day of the Por Tor Festival always means that there is a busy shrine!

We were lucky to be taken into the shrine by a family who were also visiting the shrine to pay their respects.

It was certainly a busy place! The tables were still laden with red turtles and other gifts!

After purchasing the selection of offerings (joss sticks, candles, and gold leaf / paper) we lit some joss sticks in the middle and then entered into the shrine on the left and we went behind the main figurine.

I was certainly small behind there and if you were uncomfortable with all the sake and incense then I would not go behind when it was busy - for me it was a wonderful experience.

We lit more sticks along this short corridor. On leaving this we rang the bell 3 times and left a donation in the box.

At this point there were people adding oil to the burning lamp on the table.

Then we were led to the 'burning tower' outside of the shrine. It was at this point that i noticed that the 'sheets' were held together by a small twisted piece of paper.

Which was then thorn into the flames - I will find out about the symbolism of this later.

This was wonderful - on leaving I was given some (what I think was sweet dough) from the staff. This is what you should eat some of them because it will bring you good fortune.