West Lake Garden Chinese Restaurant, Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa: Shuang Wei Mooncakes

Carrying on the Tradition of Secret Messages!

Time sure flies as one grow older… that’s why traditions are impeccably important! Cherish the customary celebrations of abundance and togetherness this coming Mid-Autumn Festival with West Lake Garden, Shuang Wei Mooncakes!

Mid-Autumn Festival denotes the time when we all reflect so fondly to those nostalgic memories of carrying paper lanterns while the elders share folk tales about the overthrow of the Mongolian rulers of Chinese in the Yuan Dynasty that was facilitated by secret messages smuggled in mooncakes.

I remember fondly of waiting for the ‘right’ time where my family and I would light up our garden with loads of colorful lanterns and share pieces of baked mooncakes after a light prayer to the moon… sigh… those were such fond memories when dad was still around! Mom still does the ritual but as we all grow older and added our own family, I find myself still cherishing those childhood moments through my child during the festival each year… J

Traditional mooncakes consist of a thin baked skin wrapped around a sweet and dense filling of red bean paste or lotus paste with egg yolk symbolizing the full moon. Today, many bakers, while retaining traditional mooncakes, have also dared to expand their creativity beyond one’s imagination when it comes to the skin and filling!

Here at West Lake Garden, the story of their exquisite Shuang Wei Mooncakes was such a beguiling vision with reviving the tradition of sending secret messages. Comprising of 10 traditional and modern flavors made from a recipe that is carefully-guarded, Chinese Master Chef Chan Choo Kean and his culinary team is please to showcase an exciting series of Shuang Wei Mooncakes for this Mid-Autumn celebration available from 12 July to 12 September 2011.

Shuang Wei Mooncakes are presented in a classy white and red long sturdy box that reflects elegant collectibles perfect for bearing gifts, notes or even placing keepsakes and precious ornament after the mooncakes are devored!

Let’s start with my favorite Shuang Wei Mooncakes in the Snow Skin series!

Low Sugar Sesame with Pistachio Paste (contains alcohol) was a beautiful and rich dream… with its dense pistachio paste encased in perfumed jet black pure sesame paste while enveloped with a classic white snow skin!

The blend is such a masterpiece! Pistachio lends the gentle and nutty flavor to the stronger sesame while the skin simply melds the flavors beautifully. My absolutely favorite mooncake with its delicate and yet bold combination!!

How can one not like Chocolate Whisky Paste? (contains alcohol) This flavor is guaranteed to bedazzle the younger generation with its exotic addition of whisky and chocolate. Imagine biting into velvet and luscious chocolate paste undertoned with whisky… rich, smooth and exquisite. Beware of the addiction!

I love milk tea, hence the Green Tea Snow Skin with Royal Milk Tea and Mocha Paste was almost made for me… hehehe! I could taste the creamy milky tea with the fragrant distinctive flavor of green tea skin.

Flavors are clean and straight to the point with a hint of mocha. Definitely one for milk tea lovers… J

Another unique blend of flavors is featured in the Low Sugar White Lotus and Red Date Paste. Sweet red date paste added playfulness to the taste buds and meld well with white lotus paste.

The texture was perfectly dense and yet it retained the melt-in-the-mouth texture without being too sweet, leaving a lingering gentle sweetness on the palate.

Shuang Wei Mooncakes features six flavors of Golden Baked series to tantalize everyone’s penchant for the distinctive caramel fragrance.

Low Sugar White Lotus with Black Sesame and Custard Paste had me fooled as it was a baked mooncake disguised as a snow skin! This is the latest flavor making a debut this year and the chef tells me of his secret method in making baked white skin by using special flour.

This fine concoction is accentuated by the heady aroma of pure black sesame paste while encasing the silky smooth custard. I actually loved the baked white skin with its vanilla undertone and had to put this as my top favorite baked mooncake so far!!

At first thought, Golden Baked Low Sugar White Lotus Paste with Salted Dried Shrimp seems at odd. One bite and I changed my mind. Although some of my friends thought it was a bit too unique for them, I adored this combination.

Literally categorized in a class of its own, the spicy salted dried shrimp was so fragrant against the sweetness of the lotus seed paste. The combination was exceptional in my books!

Backed by popular demand, Low Sugar Jade Custard Paste showcases an emerald jade paste with a lovely custard center. I could understand the popularity of this as it was another well combined flavors to lighten the mooncake from its usual rich egg yolk!

Catering to the traditional folks, Golden Baked Assorted Organic Nuts is a must-try for healthy nut lovers. Although this is my least preferred, my friends commented that this was certainly very well-made with its wholesome variety of nuts!

For the traditional variety, Chef Chan creates low-in sugar mooncakes without compromising their delicate taste and traditional ingredients. Perennial favorites for the conventional-at-hearts are also available in Golden Baked Low Sugar White Lotus Paste and Golden Baked Low Sugar Red Bean Paste.

In addition to sampling the mooncakes, Chef Wu Chee Keong has kindly given us a lesson on the making of his snow skin mooncake through a step-by-step process.

Famous baker Sunny Yaw from BBO was all smileys when he managed to make his own mooncake after the lesson from Chef Wu.

Super mom and famous mommy blogger, Merryn also managed to get her hands deep into making a snow skin! Her mooncake was impressive as a first timer… J

Overall, Shuang Wei Mooncakes managed to impress me with its thin skin but well dense fillings that has the melt-in-the-mouth sensation. Both Golden Baked and Snow Skin series certainly is set out to impress with its quality and consistency in textures, flavors and sight! The team at West Lake is genuinely considerate when creating their series by reducing the sugar, excluding artificial coloring and preservatives and even removing the rich traditional egg yolk for a healthier devotion by its consumers!

Priced between RM21+ to Rm 23+ per standard piece, Shuang Wei Mooncakes are available for dine-in or take-away from 11.00am to 9.30pm daily at West Lake Garden Chinese Restaurant from 12 July to 12 September 2011. Prices are subject to prevailing Government Tax (take-away only) plus 10% Service Charge (dine-in only).

As a corporate gift, select from West Lake Garden’s Secret Treasures gift set or Timeless Classics gift set at a mere RM98 nett for four selected flavors of mooncakes respectively. For large quantity orders of 100 boxes and above, logo customization on the mooncake box is allowed. Orders for corporate packaging must be placed from now until 12 August 2011.

* 10% discount will be accorded on the purchase of 10 boxes or more

Prior to the preview of the exquisite mooncakes, we were lucky to sample the fine cuisine at West Lake Garden Chinese Restaurant helmed by Chef Chan CK, Chef Wu CK and their team.

We started off with velvety Braised Scallop with Crab Meat in Sweet Corn Broth Drizzled with Truffle Oil. The luscious soup was certainly a warming dish to end our after-work hours and I instantly felt relaxed and warmth. The flavors were clean and light with the slight gentle sweetness of the sweet corn broth. I like the textured soup with its bits of vegetable stalks, corn, carrot and dried scallop strand with fresh crab meat. Truffle oil evoked the glamour scent of the soup… simply invigorating!

A beautiful Crispy Ginger Steamed Cod Fish had everyone complimenting the chef’s skill in executing the overall flavors and texture of the dish. Perfectly steamed, the smoothness of the cod was exceptional while the gentle soy sauce compliments the fish well.

Our third dish of Crispy Noodle with Tiger Prawns managed to strike another round of ovation from everyone. The best part of this is that we were not raving at the tiger prawn but rather at the crispy fragrant noodles which soaked up the luscious gravy! Kudos to the chef…

The cuisine at West Lake Gardens is classified as fine Chinese cuisine which is obvious from their culinary team of award-winning chefs. Quality speaks loudly here and the chef’s skills are also featured in the dishes presented. Definitely a great place to keep in mind for business or pleasure dining!

The gorgeous evening sky at Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa is simply mesmerizing that night… J

To place mooncake orders, please call West Lake Garden Chinese Restaurant at +6 03 7495 1421 or visit http://mooncakes.sunwayhotels.com

West Lake Garden Chinese Restaurant

Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa

Persiaran Lagoon, Bandar Sunway

46150 Petaling Jaya, Selangor

Tel: +603 7492 8000

Fax: +603 7492 8001

Email: enquirysrhs@sunwayhotels.com

Website: http://kualalumpur.sunwayhotels.com/

Lunch Hours:

12.00noon to 2.30pm (Mondays – Saturdays)

10.00am to 2.30 pm (Sundays and Public Holidays)

Dinner Hours:

6.30pm to 10.30pm (Mondays to Sundays)

*West Lake Garden is a pork-free establishment.

** Thanks to Crystal and BBO for the invitation!