Sydney Eat Street: Moon Festival celebrations in Sydney
It might look like a savoury hot dog but it’s actually a sweet treat — created at a modern-Vietnamese restaurant in Sydney ahead of Moon Festival celebrations this month. Dipped in chocolate, the sausage-shaped custard semifreddo is then covered with other sweet delights. MORE MOON FESTIVAL TREATS
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In centuries past, family and friends would come together under a full and bright moon to give thanks for the season’s harvest, and while celebrations continue, it’s the mooncakes and gatherings that make the Mid-Autumn Festival so special.
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HELLO AUNTIE
Kids of all ages will delight in the latest sweet treat at modern-Vietnamese restaurant, Hello Auntie.
Created by co-owner and chef Cuong Nguyen, the special banh mi kem, an ice-cream sandwich resembling a hot dog, hits the menu just in time for the Mid-Autumn festival, which in Vietnam is more often referred to as Children’s Festival because of the event’s emphasis on children.
“We wanted to create something vibrant, light, fun and playful,” says Cuong.
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Dipped in ruby chocolate, the sausage-shaped custard semifreddo is then covered with Chantilly cream passionate fruit powder and salted-caramel made with a mild premium fish sauce.
For the bigger kids in the bunch, Hello Auntie has also introduced the Ballin’ (On a Budget) Bottomless Brunch ($70pp) a five-course shared menu that includes beef tartare, cured salmon, XO prawn dumplings and your fill of strawberry, passionfruit, or lychee ginger spritzers.
For a bit more decadence, add Polanco Baerli sturgeon caviar and Yarra Valley Brook Trout gold caviar ($20pp).
“We wanted to introduce more luxury products to the menu, ones that have normally reserved for the upper echelon but can now be accessible to every budget.”
That alone is worth celebrating.
— Shop 2/16 Nicolle Walk, Haymarket; hello-auntie.com.au
LILONG BY TASTE OF SHANGHAI
With a convenience store on every corner and takeaway meals a mere mouse-click away, we may not work to a harvest calendar, but being able to emerge from hibernation and shed those winter woollies is definitely something worth celebrating, and what better way to usher in the new season than a fabulous feast.
Traditionally, on the night of mid-autumn’s fullest and brightest moon families and friends would gather to give thanks for a bountiful crop, first with dinner then an abundance of mooncakes.
“After dinner, we sit in the backyard, we’ll drink tea, eat mooncakes and enjoy the light of the full moon,” says Lilong by Taste of Shanghai’s co-owner James Wu.
“It’s a time when you get to enjoy the outdoors space while grandparents delight in watching the grandkids all running around.”
For the feast itself, James explains: “When you have family meals you often have fish as it represents good fortune. Because of Shanghai’s coastal location, that is usually some sort of seafood. Geography changes your food choices and food profile.
“Because of trade, Shanghai became a place of opportunity, so people came from all over the country and over time, all these influences evolved into Shanghai’s own style of food.
“It’s like modern Australian food. Basically, you mix a style of eating with available produce, taking bits and pieces of what suits the climate and suits the lifestyle.”
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James points out that Lilong’s crispy barramundi is a perfect example.
“For a celebration, you’d use a more premium fish,” he says perch is often the fish of choice but that in Australia, barramundi is an equivalent option.
“You don’t have it (barramundi) in China, but the Chinese have adopted it, probably without even realising it, and just cooked it in their traditional way.”
At Lilong, it is prepared whole and deep-fried with a bright sweet and sour sauce.
Shanghainese mooncakes use a generous amount of lard which makes for crispy and flaky layers on the outside, and as a reflection of the multi-regional influences that define the city, both sweet and savoury fillings, perfect for enjoying after dinner or as a nice treat to takeaway and gaze at the night sky from the comforts of your own home.
— 1 Little Hay St, Haymarket; Taste of Shanghai: Burwood, Eastwood, World Square and Hurstville; tasteofshanghai.com.au
JIM’S MALAYSIA
While mooncakes may be synonymous with China’s Mid-Autumn festival, neighbouring countries have their own take on the seasonal morsels.
For a taste of the Malaysian version, there is no better place than Jim’s Malaysia where owner Jim Yong, affectionately known as Uncle Jim uses a prized family recipe to hand-make the traditional buttery Teo Chew Mooncakes.
First offering these buttery creations in 2016, each year since he has concocted a slew of other options including unbaked snowy mochi mooncake and butter cookies.
For 2020, he’s added a molten custard and butter cheese version. Besides their uniqueness, Yong believes it’s his insentience on quality ingredient that sets Jim’s Malaysia’s mooncakes apart from the crowd.
“We use local ingredients for fresher and better-tasting mooncakes, whilst combining the making process with traditional techniques,” he says.
“We have a whole range of different choices of flavours – including durian – to remind Malaysian customers of their childhood and introduce new to customers to the quality that is missing from mooncakes imported from overseas.”
Sounds like memories in the making. (while supplies last)
– Central Park, Chatswood, Macquarie Park, Miranda, Town Hall; Facebook/JimsMalaysiaChatswood
MOON FESTIVAL MOONCAKES
The origin of mooncakes may be tied to the Moon Festival and the mid-autumn harvest, but their symbolism goes so much deeper than a sweet treat enjoyed under a bright full moon.
Both the crust and fillings are indicative of each region be Hong it Kong’s snow-white cakes, Suzhou-Style sweet and savoury selection with their iconic layers of filo pastry type dough or the ornate and sweet ones found in Beijing while the round shape represents completeness and reunion, and thus the gathering of family and friends.
While you can make or buy them for yourself, they’re more commonly given as a gift, particularly ones that come in the gorgeous tin boxes (which double as desk organisers when empty).
You can pick some up and most any Asian supermarket but why not have some fun while you’re out and about and head to Market City where Thai Kee IGA has set up a large stand in the centre with a massive variety from most every Chinese region and neighbouring countries (through October 1).
There’s even some house-made gift boxes of salted-egg custard or salted egg custard with pineapple filling available from late-night dining institution Golden Century, which co-owner Billy Wong notes are “best enjoyed when lightly warmed up in the oven or microwave”.
Linger into the evening then head to Darling Square for some special meal deals or gather some friends and share some tasty treats amidst hundreds of lanterns that adorn the entire precinct (through October 11).
— Market City / Thai Kee IGA, 9-13 Hay St, Haymarket; marketcity.com.au
— Golden Century Mooncakes available at Golden Century (Chinatown), The Century (The Star), XOPP (Darling Square and Thai Keen IGA)
— Darling Square, 35 Tumbalong Blvd, Haymarket; darlingsq.com
ZILVER
Come hungry as you’re in for a fantastic feast at both Zilver locations. Known for their family-friendly expansive spaces, each one is an ideal place to get the whole crew together so celebrate the change of seasons.
In Haymarket, there’s a seafood banquet to be had featuring live mud crab with noodles and a choice of three other mains that range from range from deep-fried salt and pepper calamari deep dried crispy duck (Serves four to six people, $198).
At the Bondi location, a decadent meal awaits with such dishes as stir-fried live lobster, braised baby abalone with chicken feet and steamed live coral trout.
For dessert, guests are treated to traditional (and yummy) jelly rabbits, a representation of the little forest creature whose selfless act earned him immortality alongside Chang’e, the beautiful woman, who resides on the moon. (Serves 10, $598. Available September 30-October 3).
— Zilver Bondi, Shop 6010, Level 6, Westfield Bondi Junction; zilverbondi.com.au
— Zilver Haymarket, Level G, 191 Hay St, Haymarket; zilver.com.au
IIKO MAZESOBA
In Japan, the origins of the mid-autumn festivities or “moon-viewing” is believed to have begun centuries ago by Japanese aristocrats.
They’d gather under the full harvest moon, often aboard boats so as to see its reflection on the water and recite poetry while eating seasonal produce and moon-shaped treats such as bite-sized white rice dumplings.
For your own regal moment, you can enjoy these ‘Moon Viewing Rice Dumplings’ for free with orders more than $30.
— 86 Hay St, Haymarket; mazesoba.com.au
NEW SHANGHAI RESTAURANTS
It’s a double win at New Shanghai this weekend as not only do they have their house-made mooncakes, they’re also celebrating National Dumpling Day (September 26) with a free serve of their famous soup dumplings, Xiao Long Bao when you spend $50.
Drop in for a delicious Shanghai-style food – which, independent of this weekend special offer, most definitely should include their more-ish dumplings, then finish off with a selection of their flaky short crust mooncakes that include the traditional Moon Festival options: savoury pork, sweet red bean paste, mixed nuts and lotus seed paste with salted egg yolk. (Mooncakes are available through October 1 at most New Shanghai locations, including Ashfield New Shanghai Workshop, Westfield Sydney and Chatswood Chase.)
WHAT’S FRESH
2 CHEFS AT CANTON
Relocating to northwest Sydney and keen to get back into hospitality after a stint in Canberra owning and operating a successful cafe with a friend, Tina Zheng realised that there was an abundance of cafes but a noticeable lack of yum cha restaurants.
Owing to her connection with a local seafood supplier paired with a love of Cantonese cuisine, in late July, Zheng opened 2 Chefs at Canton, to fill that gap in the market; it’s also an ideal place to get together for the Moon Festival with their special celebratory feast.
Staying true to their focus on seafood, rather than traditional Peking duck, the menu features Prawns in mango mayonnaise, barramundi steamed in ginger & shallot and prawn dim sims.
Of course, the season highlight is mooncake.
“Some of the best memories I have are eating mooncakes with my family,” says Zheng adding that her favourite saying revolves around the Mid-Autumn Festival.
“May flowers always bloom, people always healthy and moon always round.”
($166 for share meal between four to six people).
— 1/1 Gauthorpe St, Rhodes; Facebook/2chefsatcanton
Originally published as Sydney Eat Street: Moon Festival celebrations in Sydney
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