With Mid-Autumn Festival drawing nearer, it’s that time of the year to go mooncake shopping once again. If simply reading about mooncakes isn’t enough for you, why not head down to Square 2 for their Mid-Autumn Illumination?

From 26 August to 15 September 2019, you can stroll around the booths and sample the exciting mooncake flavours — I’m sure you’ll find one to bring home. Here’s our pick of six mooncakes to try and buy (plus a bonus treat)!

1. Awfully Chocolate

Chocolate lovers, Awfully Chocolate is bringing us a gorgeous selection of chocoholic mooncakes, presented in stylish handcrafted wooden boxes.

The Mooncake Collection includes four different flavours: Baked Oriental Custard With Salted Egg Yolk, Chocolate Brownie With Toasted Pumpkin Seeds, Dark Chocolate Lotus Paste With Salted Egg Yolk, and White Lotus Paste With Caramelised Macadamia Nuts. A box of four retails for S$88 each.

If you want something that’s even more chocolatey, try their Chocolate Mooncake Truffles. With eight pieces per box at S$88, you’ll get your fill of chocolates with these “mooncakes”. Choose from Dark Chocolate With Espresso Yolk, White Chocolate Lemon With Orange Marmalade Yolk, Champagne Dark Chocolate With Sour Cherry Yolk and Chocolate Sesame With Green Tea Yolk.

Chocolate mooncakes and tea, anyone?

2. Duria

When mooncake season and durian season coincide, you’ll be sure to find lots of durian mooncakes! And at Duria, they use premium Mao Shan Wang durians for the mooncake filling.

Each box of Musang King Durian Snowy Skin Mooncake 猫山王榴莲冰皮月饼 contain six pieces and is priced at S$78.

There’s more — you can get two boxes for S$148, three boxes for S$198, and five boxes for S$298. If you purchase more than eight boxes, you’ll even get free delivery!

3. Gem Story

Who can say no to adorable character-themed mooncake boxes?

Gem Story brings us a selection of themed boxes right from our childhood. There’s Hello Kitty, Little Twin Stars and even the comical Crayon Shinchan 蜡笔小新!

My favourite has to be the Hello Kitty box, at S$108 for four QQ Skin and four Charcoal Skin. It comes with Superior QQ Skin Musang Mooncake, and you can choose either the normal QQ skin in pink, or the Bamboo Charcoal QQ Skin in black. The mooncakes come in a PU leather jewellery box, so you can keep it for future use.

You can also get baked mooncakes with the Crayon Shinchan box (S$48 per box of four). This includes flavours like Noble Delight With Yolk 单黄万紫千红, Golden Emerald With Yolk 单黄金翡翠莲蓉, White Lotus With Yolk 单黄白莲蓉, and Cherry Blossom With Yolk 单黄百花争艳.

The Mystical Mooncake Box (S$58 for four pieces) comes in four different designs: Hello Kitty, My Melody, Little Twin Stars and Gudetama. The flavours include Pure White Lotus With Single Yolk 单黄纯白莲蓉, Emerald Jade 千禧翡翠, Pure White Lotus With Double Yolk 双黄白莲蓉, and Pure White Lotus 纯白莲蓉.

Pick the one that suits you best!

4. The Forage Café by Thirteen Honey

For something on the dainty side, indulge in exquisite mini snow skin mooncakes from The Forage Café by Thirteen Honey.

Credit – The Forage Cafe by Thirteen Honey

From the Artisan Selection (S$76 per box of eight pieces), you can enjoy all-time favourites like Earl Grey Dark Chocolate, Yuzu Passionfruit, Ispahan, and Matcha Strawberry.

Alcoholics, come together with the Connosieur Selection (S$82 per box of eight pieces) which includes Champagne Truffle, Dark Chocolate Cointreau, Choya Yuzu and Dark ChocoRum.

5. Gin Thye

If you prefer the good ol‘ traditional mooncakes, Gin Thye offers a decent selection as well. I really liked their samples too, since that means you can try the mooncakes to find your favourite before buying.

From traditional flavours like Traditional Lotus 纯正莲蓉(S$48 for four), Nuts 五仁月饼(S$58 for four) and Single Yolk Traditional Lotus 单黄莲蓉(S$52 for four), to more exotic ones like Charcoal Green Tea 竹炭绿茶月饼(S$58 for four) and Mao Shan Wang Mooncake 猫山王冰皮榴莲 (S$98 for four), there’s something for every palate.

6. Durian Plantation

At the Durian Plantation booth, they specialise in one thing: durian mooncakes.

If you’re feeling fancy, this is where you should get your mooncakes from. Aptly named Black Gold Mao Shan Wang Durian Mooncake (S$88 for four pieces), they use real durian puree for the filling, so you know you’re getting your money’s worth.

For durian lovers still in the mood for the actual fruit, Durian Plantation offers sealed packs of durian priced between S$28 – S$48 per pack.

Credit – Mid-Autumn Illumination

Psst, if you spend more than S$300 at the Mid-Autumn Illumination fair, you’ll get a free Taiwanese pomelo! Alternatively, you can relive your childhood with any of the lanterns on display, normally priced from S$6.80 – S$15.80.

Still thinking about what to buy for the Mid-Autumn Festival? Time to make a trip down to Square 2 in Novena.

*This post is brought to you in partnership with Mid-Autumn Illumination