Shangri-La Hotel Mooncakes 2010

gorgeous white chocolate snow skin with bits of kumquat

I reckon I'm in love....with Shangri-La Hotel's mooncakes. Being early this time in my sampling session has meant I got the cream of the crop including their highly sought after durian snow skin mooncake, something I missed out last year.

green tea snow skin mooncake with candied ginger pieces

I was impressed with the snow skin selection - flavours were well paired with most of them except the green tea one (I expected the ginger to alleviate the sweetness but instead they used the sweet tasting candied ginger). Since I'm more a snow skin gal, I didn't sample any of the traditional mooncakes except the assorted nuts and sun dried fruits one.

assorted nuts mooncake sliced, pink roses, dark chocolate snow skin mooncake with dulce de leche centre, avocado with custard mooncake hidden within the box

Known as "Ng Yan" in Chinese, the assorted nuts and sundried fruits mooncake (RM22.50 per piece, RM90 for 4 pieces) was chock full of goodies-winter melon, sesame seeds, almonds, kat paeng (candied mandarin orange peel), melon seeds, walnuts, hazelnuts, with a dash of rose wine. While we loved the taste of the nuts, we found it to be a little on the drier side that may indicate it wasn't too fresh.

chock full of goodies - assorted nuts and sundried fruits mooncake

The mini durian snow skin (ping pei) mooncake (RM16 per piece, RM96 for 6 pieces) was superb!! A must for durian lovers indeed as it contains the highly sought after and aromatic "Mau Sang Wong" durian within. There's not much of an aroma from outside but cut through the soft snow skin and the strong distinct heady aroma hits you to slowly draw you in. I was so glad I had bought two pieces of this decadent mooncake for my mother to savour with my aunt later this week.

divine durian snow skin mooncake

Another favourite of ours was the mini ping pei snow white chocolate with orange kumquat (RM16 per piece, RM96 for a box of 6 pieces). The small chopped pieces of kumquat scattered within the white chocolate filling seemed to add a lovely tang and of course, made it less rich.

white chocolate with kumquat, silk covered box, Russian dolls, durian mooncake with saga seeds

We also gave our thumbs up to the fragrant mini ping pei snow dark chocolate dulce de leche praline flavour with almond and hazelnut (RM16 per piece, RM96 for 4 pieces). There seemed to be a hint of coffee within the fragrant chocolate snow skin that made it irresistible, like a chocolate truffle.

dark chocolate snow skin mooncake with a dulce de leche centre and almonds with hazelnuts

Even though it sounded like a weird combination, the mini ping pei avocado with custard (RM14 per piece, RM84 for 6 pieces) made perfect sense once you popped a piece in the mouth - silky smooth with a hint of the avocado taste. The only dissapointment was the mini ping pei white green tea flavour with candy ginger (RM16 per piece, RM96 for 6 pieces) - a little on the oily side and too cloyingly sweet with the chopped pieces of candied ginger. This year, they also retained last year's mini ping pei bird's nest with custard with a RM1 price increase to RM23 per piece, RM138 for 6 pieces.

As usual, Shangri-La Hotel's packaging is regal looking with six pieces or four large pieces encased in a silk brocade covered box. They have retained that lovely folding boxes too, hence everything looks elegant enough to be presented to your clients or the family. When I was buying my mooncakes, I spotted this lady who was carting away a whole trolley full of mooncakes!! You also get two rebate vouchers at RM20 each to be used in Shang Palace and Zipangu when you purchase one box of mooncakes. However like all vouchers, there are conditions attached to it. Zipangu's voucher requires you to spend a minimum of RM96++ per voucher before it is valid, while the Shang Palace voucher user must spend a minimum of RM50++ per voucher. Both vouchers are valid until 30 November, 2010. Discounts are also available if you bulk purchase the mooncakes. A note on the prices, last year they ranged from RM12 to RM24 (the priciest was the truffle) for the snow skin varieties, this year there is definitely an increase as the cheapest one starts from RM14 with the most expensive being the birds nest variety at RM23.

Shangri-La Hotel Mooncakes

11 Jalan Sultan Ismail

Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 03-20743560 to order or enquire

(Pork free. Red bean paste, lotus seed paste, white lotus seed paste and spirulina paste with salted egg yolks are also available from RM17 to RM22.50 per piece. For more pictures, see my Flickr set.)

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. This review is time sensitive; changes may occur to the place later on that can affect this opinion. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from this place for writing the review.