Celebrate this Mid Autumn festival by enjoying some of the best mooncakes in London.
Traditionally, families and friends will gather during the festive period to celebrate reunion and harmony. Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the moon festival, falls this year on Friday, 29 September 2023.
One of the most important activities is sharing a mooncake, a traditional Chinese pastry that symbolises togetherness.
Depending on the region, these festive pastries are either sweet or savoury with various toppings. From salted egg yolks, lotus seed paste, and mixed nuts to green tea, red bean and snow skin mooncakes. You name it. Bakers get creative with mooncake flavours.
To celebrate the Mid Autumn festival in the UK, small Asian-owned businesses and London's best pastry chefs have created a range of limited-edition mooncake boxes. So think beyond the traditional flavours, and prepare to feast on gastronomical delights.
Due to popular demand, these festive treats sell out every year leading up to the Mid-Autumn festival. So, here's where you can grab (while you still can!) one of the best mooncakes in London.
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Noodle and Beer
Expressing art through food, Noodle and Beer is back with another creative-themed mooncake collection. This year, Xiao Xiao Wang took inspiration from Chinese paper-cutting art to make these artistic pastries including a crystalline glazed serving plate that is perfect as a gift.
Besides the stunning visuals, the chefs have created these limited edition mooncakes with a traditional recipe from Southwest China featuring dry-cured jamón.
The staff's favourite is their Dry-cured jamón and Dry-cured jamón with salted egg yolk. In their own words, "We only use the finest jamón from Yunan province. The texture is both rich and dense. The flavour combines honey's sweetness and savoriness from the jamón."
These delicious autumn pastries are available for delivery in London and Nationwide. You can also pick these up from their restaurant in Shoreditch. However, Noodle and Beer are only producing 100 boxes for the Mid Autumn Festival 2023.
The flavours: Lotus seed paste with salted egg yolk, Char siu pork, Dry-cured jamón and Five Kernels.
Available for UK delivery or London collection.
Mille Patisserie
When it comes to the best mooncakes in London, we have to mention Mille Patisserie. In the Asian community, we have repeatedly heard high praises about both their savoury Shanghai pastries and snow skin mooncake.
Their Shanghai meat pies have a flaky multilayer crust with a generous, juicy meat filling that melts in together in your mouth.
Meanwhile, their snowy mooncakes are all about creative flavours. This year, Mille Patisserie has brought back fan favourites, including Mango lava and Salted Egg Yolk Pineapple pastry.
But our recommendation is? Durian. Their new and improved durian snowy mooncake is a must-try for durian lovers in London. Mille Patisserie uses pure 100% Thailand's Monthong durian to achieve that distinct fragrance and a sweet custardy taste.
Mooncake Flavours: Mango Lava, Matcha & Red Bean, Salted Egg Yolk custard, Thai Tea Lava, Coconut Latte and Durian. They have Pork, Spicy beef or Pork with Pickle Veg for their Shanghai meat pies.
Available for UK delivery.
Order via their site
(They can also take orders via WeChat or over the phone. However, website orders are preferred. The staff are friendly but speak very little English.)
Too Much Sugar
If you're looking for a mooncake in London that reminds you of childhood in Hong Kong, you must try Too Much Sugar. The small Instagram business is run by Winnie, a Le Cordon Bleu graduate from Hong Kong with over 7 years of experience in high-end hotels and restaurants around London.
In the past, Winnie has created Matcha & Red Bean flavours using ceremonial-grade green tea from Shizouka and Tokachi red beans from Hokkaido as well as a delicious Taro & Ube flavour.
This year, Too Much Sugar is back with more creative flavours including Hojicha & Hazelnut, as well as a decadent Earl Grey and dark chocolate filling for chocolate lovers. Their rabbit-shaped pastries continue to be adorable every year. For 2023, the mooncakes will come in a beautiful wooden box decorated with rabbits.
Mooncake flavours: Classic Hong Kong Salted Custard, Hojicha & Hazelnut, Earl Grey & Valrhona Dark Chocolate, and Biscoff & Coconut Lotus Paste.
Available for UK delivery or London collection at various locations.
Order via Instagram or via their site
Beo Stories
Tired of traditional mooncakes? Try a mousse mooncake in London from Beo Stories. It's lighter than its traditional counterpart but creamier than a snowy skin mooncake. Adding a French culinary twist to this classic Chinese pastry creates a delicate dessert in its own league.
Topped with a chocolate moon and rabbit decoration, these mooncakes will make a delightful treat.
Available for London delivery.
A Little Sweet
Traditionally, you would eat a mooncake by enjoying a wedge at a time while sharing it with family and friends. But, you'll find it hard to resist devouring A Little Sweet's mouthwatering miniature mooncakes in one bite.
The brainchild of celebrity pastry chef Jeffery Koo, A Little Sweet is offering mooncakes with a classic salted egg yolk and homemade custard filling.
Having already sold out the first batch within launch week, these mooncakes will be difficult to get your hands on if you don't act fast.
Mooncake flavours: Salted Egg Yolk Custard Mooncake and Durian.
Available for UK delivery.
Order via their site: https://www.alittlesweet.co.uk/
Ong Ong Buns
Offering both traditional and Shanghai mooncakes in London is Ong Ong Buns. The Chinese bakery is known among partons for its classic Hong Kong and Malaysian baked goods. They also stirred up a storm for their unique approach to selling food that's been described as "searingly honest".
For this year's Mid Autumn festival, Aaron Mo, owner of Ong Ong Buns has been slowly revealing each mooncake flavour on Instagram. The team have kept us guessing for the past month about what flavours they'll be creating but we're excited to finally find out.
Mooncake flavours: Five Nuts, Lava Custard, Pork Pie, Biscoff and Lotus Paste.
Bun House
If you're looking for mooncakes in Chinatown London, head over to the Cantonese-style steamed bun specialist, Bun House. To celebrate 2023 Mid-Autumn festival, Founder Z He, has launched a series of limited-edition snowskin mooncakes.
These autumn delights come in a beautifully presented handwoven box to complete the set, making it a perfect gift for loved ones.
Mooncake flavours: Lava Custard and Red Bean, Mango Sago and Muscat Grape.
Available for London collection only.
Order via their site: https://bunhouse.slerp.com/order/
Mooncakes in Chinatown London
During the Mid-autumn festival, you can purchase these baked goods from various small bakeries and supermarkets in Chinatown, London.
Supermarkets in Chinatown London, such as See Woo and Oseyo, often offer traditional and snow skin mooncakes from well-known Hong Kong brands like Wing Wah and Mei Sum (or Mei Xin). However, these usually go super quick, so we recommend calling in advance to see if they have any stock left.
Meanwhile, selected bakeries like Golden Gate Cake Shop, Chinatown Bakery and Sakurado in Chinatown London offer a small batch of freshly baked traditional mooncakes throughout the festive period. These traditional flavours include salted egg yolk, white lotus seed paste, and sesame.
Where to buy great mooncakes in London?
Here is a full list of places to buy some of the best mooncakes in London.
- Noodle and Beer
- Mille Patisserie
- Too Much Sugar
- Beo Stories
- A Little Sweet
- Ong Ong Buns
- Bun House
- Various locations in Chinatown London
For our best mooncake in London guide, we've chosen to feature a range of businesses. From small Asian-owned businesses to luxury restaurants to give you various price points. But unfortunately, these pastries sell out fast during the festive period. Therefore, we may not be able to update this article as often as we'd like.
Let us know if we've missed out on any of your favourite spots to get mooncakes in London.
Didn't get your hands on one of these festive treats? You can also make it home with our easy Mooncake recipe or snow skin mooncake recipe.
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