SIN: Mid-Autumn 2012 Mooncakes @ Grand Hyatt Singapore

Sensational champagne truffle and sea salt caramel truffle mooncakes!

First of all, we would like to wish our readers a happy Mid-Autumn Festival! With a huge array of mooncakes to choose from, I'm sure everyone is spoilt for choice. However, for an indecisive person like me, the headache is a yearly affair. In the end, I decided to order from Grand Hyatt to satisfy my craving for snowskin mooncakes.

Assorted Selection of Snowskin Mooncakes S$58.00

This year, Grand Hyatt introduces four new flavours: Mung Bean with Coconut Truffle, Sea Salt Caramel Truffle, Custard with Salted Egg and Kopi 'O' Truffle, while keeping the four favourite flavours: Black Sesame Yuzu Truffle, Lychee Martini Truffle, Champagne Truffle and Durian (ahh, the 'king of fruits'!). Oh, the hotel ran out of the big box, so they had no choice but to put each into a small box.

Mung Bean with Coconut Truffle

Taste: 7/10

It was the first mooncake that I ate when I got back to my room, and yes, the whole thing had already became a bit soft. I just couldn't afford to wait for it to harden in the fridge. Anyway, neither the snowskin nor the mung bean paste was sticky on the teeth. The latter was pretty sweet, and the truffle was rich in milk, but it didn't really have the coconut taste.

Sea Salt Caramel Truffle

Taste: 9/10

This particular new addition to the family was just plain awesome. The sweet lotus seed paste was perfectly balanced by the savoury, buttery caramel encased in a ball of truffle.

Custard with Salted Egg

Taste: 7/10

Just when I thought salted egg wouldn't find its way inside a snowskin mooncake, the hotel challanged me to try this one. Initially, I thought the salted egg yolk would appear as a whole in the middle. Apparently, it manifested itself as a layer below the custard layer. The custard was milky enough, but not that sweet, with the salted egg providing a contrast with its slightly rough texture. However, I have to say that the latter didn't really have that tinge of saltiness I'd love to have, and a little bit of the briny smell was there.

Kopi 'O' Truffle

Taste: 8/10

Kopi 'O' is a term which refers to black coffee served with sugar. In this case, it's a misnomer because when I bit into the truffle, it was unmistakably coffee with creamer or milk. I felt that the coffee taste could be more intense, but it nevertheless went well with the lotus seed paste without being cloyingly sweet overall.

Black Sesame Yuzu Truffle

Taste: 8.5/10

In my opinion, it was the most gorgeous in terms of appearance with its solid black colour and gold dust on the outside. Frankly speaking, there was only a subtle taste and aroma of yuzu, a type of citrus fruit, in the paste. However, I was glad that the paste itself wasn't too sweet, which allowed me to enjoy the milk chocolate encased in a layer of white chocolate. In addition, the black sesame seeds added a bit of crunch to the mooncake.

Lychee Martini Truffle

Taste: 8.5/10

The sweet lotus seed paste, in this case, was well-complemented in taste by the aromatic, slightly sweet, slightly bitter lychee martini truffle which melted as soon as it reached my tongue.

Champagne Truffle

Taste: 9/10

Another champion of the set, the lotus seed paste snowskin mooncake carried with it a ball of truffle full of champagne goodness. Once I sank my teeth into the brittle truffle skin, the semi-solid champagne cream inside exuded its strong aroma which blended well with the paste.

Durian

Taste: 8/10

"Did you eat the durian flavour?" may be a question in your mind. Yes, I did. Although I'm not a big fan of durian, and I avoid it most of the time (I believe the last time I ate durian was 10 years ago), I braced myself to try this one. The pure sweetness of durian encased in the slightly chewy snowskin wasn't bad, for lack of a better word. In fact, I actually felt that it was nicer than those flavours I rated 7/10, although I know I shouldn't compare apples with oranges. I just couldn't really stand the durian smell that lingered in my mouth for half a day, even after brushing my teeth haha... 

Melon's Rating
Taste: 8/10

In general, I was largely satisfied with the selections of snowskin mooncakes offered by the hotel this year. Pika's advice: Similar to this year, I believe there should be discounts with selected credit cards as well next year. Let's look forward to next year's selections! :)

Grand Hyatt Singapore

10 Scotts Road

Singapore

(Only during the mid-autumn festival!)

*Prices quoted are subject to 7% GST.

Have a nice meal,

Cliff(y)