Flavors range from salted egg or mixed nuts to red bean paste or lotus seed. Seasonal displays are stocked with brands like TTJ, Hong Kong-based Rong Hua, Flying Horse, with its filling of Musang King durian from Malaysia, and I-Mei from Taiwan. The grocery chain carries mooncakes in decorative tins. Even the taro has an egg yolk nestled as its golden heart. None of the three varieties is simple: The red bean mooncakes are studded with pine nuts and a center of chewy mochi. Come here for the unique and complex, savory-sweet dong po, filled with a wall of red bean paste, pork floss, nuggets of walnut, an egg yolk, and bits of purplish mochi inside, with Asiago crumbles on top. The Taiwanese bakery offers flaky, bun-like, round mooncakes alongside their buns and breads all of September. Jeng Chi has been making them for more than 60 years. Inside, simple tawny-colored cakes with minimal ornaments hold the classic salty egg yolk and other fillings. Jeng ChiĮlegant, stylish boxes (lacquer-brown with gold brushstrokes) meet the eye. Available while supplies last, they come in flavors like coconut with durian, green tea, and taro.
Kim Ninh Bakeryįor years, this family-owned bakery has earned a following for handmade, molded mooncakes sold from the small storefront operation in Far North Dallas. Some stores and bakeries have been offering the sweet treats all month long. Go, therefore, questing: Your mooncakes already await. This year, the mid-autumn festival falls on Sept.
#RESTAURANT FOR MIDAUTUMN FESTIVALIN LOS ANGELES FULL#
Based on the lunar calendar (and marking the 15th day of the eighth month), the holiday celebrates the circles and ties of kinship or friendship with an emphasis on gratitude, wholeness, fullness, unity-through cakes full and (usually) round like the moon. They boast flavors like red bean paste, lotus seed, and purple taro. The dense, diminutive baked treats, most commonly found with egg-washed surfaces and elaborate designs (traditionally from the wooden molds they’re pressed into) come out to herald the mid-autumn festival observed most keenly in various countries in Asia, primarily in mainland China and Taiwan. In mid-September, I start to think of the myriad forms of mooncakes.