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 Saturday, 10 September 2022.
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 Mid Autumn festival. So, here's where you can grab (while you still can!) one of the best mooncakes in London.
Jump to:
Noodle and Beer
Expressing art through food, Noodle and Beer are back with a space-themed mooncake collection. This year, Xiao Xiao Wang took inspiration from planetary and space sciences to make these artistic pastries in a metallic space rocket stand that are 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 2022.
The flavours: Lotus seed paste with salted egg yolk, Char siu pork, Dry-cured jamón and Dry-cured jamón with salted egg yolk.
Preorder ends on 7 September 2022. From £48 per box. Available for UK delivery or London collection.
Order via their site: https://www.noodleandbeer.com/mooncake
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 until 10 September 2022. Pre-order is now available. From £4.50 per mooncake. Available for UK delivery.
Order via their site: https://www.patisseriemille.com/the-shop#festival
(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.
She was unfortunately laid off during the pandemic but never lost her passion for baking. Now she shares her delicious homemade bakes through her Instagram business.
According to Winnie, picking her favourite mooncake this year is hard, but in her own words, "it's either the Matcha & Red Beans or Taro & Ube flavour. We use high-end ingredients from Asia."
Indeed, their Matcha & Red Bean flavour uses ceremonial grade green tea from Shizouka and Tokachi red beans from Hokkaido. The grains are round and full, which produces a smooth and sweet taste. As for their Taro & Ube flavour, Winnie uses Taiwanese yam and purple potatoes that are low-calorie, low-fat and full of antioxidants. She mixes this with shredded coconut to create a creamy mooncake filling.
Mooncake flavours: Molten Salted Egg Yolk, Matcha & Red Bean, Taro & Ube, and Coconut & Sesame lotus paste. We absolutely adore their rabbit-shaped mooncakes!
Preorder ends on 31 August 2022. 3 days of advanced notice is required. From £35 per box or £8 per mooncake. Available for UK delivery or London collection at various locations.
Order via Instagram or their site: https://www.toomuchsugar.co.uk/mooncake2022
Royal China
Add Royal China's freshly baked mooncakes to your list of must-try delicacies for this Mid Autumn Festival. New for 2022, their purple yam lava mooncake are a unique spin on traditional mooncakes.
In their own words, their purple yam lava mooncake "blends western ingredients (custard) with eastern ingredients (purple yam) to create a truly luxurious pastry that melts in your mouth. In each set, we have heating instructions as these mooncakes are best served warm, especially with the purple yam lava mooncakes to create the lava effect of the custard."
Their purple yam lava mooncake is available as a gift set with two pouches of their own Chinese tea blend and two bespoke teacups to enjoy them in. Perfect for sharing with loved ones while moongazing.
Besides their purple yam lava mooncake, they also offer a more traditional custard flavour. Their custard mooncake is equally decadent with a rich, creamy filling.
With over 20 years of experience, Royal China is a London institution specialising in dim sum and regional Chinese dishes. Located across 5 prime locations in London, their concept is to offer customers a relaxed dining experience in a more upscale setting with beautifully presented and authentic Chinese food.
Their loyal customer base in London means their mooncakes sell like hot cakes every year.
Mooncake flavours: Custard flavour and Purple yam lava mooncakes (comes with a tea cup gift set).
Available until 10 September 2022. 1 day advance notice is required. From £43 per box. London pick up only from any Royal China branch.
Order by calling any Royal China restaurant branch directly or order in-store.
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.
This year, Beo Stories have created a 3 layer mousse mooncake with a delicious chocolate crunch flakes base and covered in a soft light mousse exterior. Topped with a chocolate crescent moon and rabbit decoration, these mooncakes make a delightful treat.
Mooncake flavours: Mango Yuzu and Chocolate Banana
Available from 2 September. Pre-order is now available. From £17 per set. Available for London delivery.
Order via their site: https://www.beostories.com/
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.
Preorder ends on 31 August 2022. From £36 per box. Available for UK delivery.
Order via their site: https://www.alittlesweet.co.uk/
UPDATE: A Little Sweet have sold out for Mid Autumn Festival 2022.
Mei Ume
Indulge in Mei Ume's intricately crafted mooncakes this Mid Autumn festival, designed by award-winning Head Chef Tony Truong. These delicate pastries are inspired by the flavours of Autumn and his childhood memories of the festival in Vietnam and China.
Troung explains, "I have so many fond memories of the festival from throughout my life, both as a child playing with lanterns to coming together with loved ones now, especially after so much time spent apart these last few years. There is nothing more magical than sitting beneath a full, glowing moon eating mooncakes - it's the highlight of my year!".
These autumn delights are available as a gift in a beautifully decorated East-meets-West style box. Alternatively, you can enjoy these in the restaurant alongside snow skin mochi mooncakes that are for dine-in customers only.
Mooncake flavours: Red bean, White lotus seed with salted egg yolk, Rose Jam and Chestnut.
Available until 10 September 2022. Pre-order is now available. From £58 per box. Available for London collection only.
Order via their site: https://www.meiume.com/mid-autumn-mooncakes/
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 says his favourite moon cake is the Red Nom. It's a combination of red beans with Ong Ong Nom, a top seller at the bakery. Their crowd pleaser Ong Ong Nom features a custard and coconut filling that borrows from the Hong Kong cocktail bun.
Mooncake flavours: Red Nom (red bean, custard and coconut filling), Coconut & Peanut Butter, and Coconut & Peanut Butter with egg yolk. Shanghai mooncake flavours include Lotus or taro (both with or without egg yolk).
Available from 1 - 18 September 2022. Pre-order is now available (1 week of advanced notice is required). From £4.50 per mooncake, the minimum online order is £30. Available for London collection only.
Order via their site: https://ongongbuns.square.site
Bun House
If you're looking for mooncakes in Chinatown London, head over to the Cantonese-style steamed bun specialist, Bun House. To celebrate 2022 Mid-Autumn festival, Founder Z He, has launched a series of limited edition mooncakes.
Firstly, each mooncake is handmade and then encased in a golden brown, soft pastry shell embossed with traditional Cantonese designs. Among these are the Chinese dancing lion and a Ruyi pattern symbolising longevity and prosperity.
These autumn delights come in a beautifully presented handwoven box to complete the set, making it a perfect gift for loved ones.
Mooncake flavours: Traditional Sweet Lotus and Sweet Bean, Seasonal Chestnut Cream and Bun House's unique Silken Egg Custard.
Available from 27 August until 10 September 2022 or when sold out. Pre-order is now available. From £32 per box. 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 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
- Royal China
- Beo Stories
- A Little Sweet
- Mei Ume
- Ong Ong Buns
- Bun House
- Various locations at 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.
For simplified and traditional Chinese versions of this article, see here: CN and ZH.
Leave a Reply