Michelin-starred fine-dining Chinese restaurant HKK will be offering two types of moon cakes on its 15-course tasting menu (from today until 13 September) to celebrate the mid-Autumn harvest festival, one of the oldest and most respected traditions in the Chinese calendar.

Chef Tong Chee Hwee, Executive Head Chef of the Hakkasan Group, has created two moon cakes to mark the annual custom – a sweet red date moon cake with a delicate pastry wrap enveloping a lotus seed and red date filling, and a savoury and sweet snow-skin moon cake with a nutty, lotus seed centre. Highlighting Chef Tong’s modern approach to time-honoured recipes, the moon cakes will be available as part of HKK’s 15-course evening tasting menu as a seasonal addition to the tea ceremony.

Launching in the eighth month – an auspicious date due to eight being a lucky number in China – these small Chinese pastries are spherical in shape to represent the full moon and unity. They are traditionally offered as gifts during the eighth month of the Chinese calendar when the moon is considered to be at its roundest – the Chinese used to worship the mountain gods under the full moon once the harvest was complete. A respected part of the country’s cultural heritage, the festival originated before 1000BC and to this day celebrates the gathering of friends and family, thanksgiving and prayer.

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