Wan Li's traditional handcrafted mooncakes

Renaissance Johor Baru is taking a contemporary approach in celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival with traditional baked and snow skin varieties of mooncake stuffed with a range of trendy fillings to meet the tastes of modern mooncake connoisseurs.

Wan Li's traditional handcrafted baked mooncakes

I join guests at the food-tasting event and it starts with sampling a variety of mooncakes presented on platters in the foyer of Wan Li Chinese Restaurant.

Chinese Head Chef, Go Yong Jia, continues the tradition of making handcrafted mooncakes filled with fresh, fine quality natural ingredients in classic recipes.

A quick look at the varieties of mooncakes includes Pure Lotus Paste in baked mooncakes, as well as those with Single Yolk and Double Yolks.

There are also choices like Jade Custard, Green Tea Paste with Single Yolk, Assorted Fruits & Nuts and a new flavour, Red Bean Paste.

A sampling of snow skin mooncakes
created in a range of pretty pastel colours

Snow skin mooncakes are created in a range of pretty pastel colours and are easily identified as Dark Chocolate Crunchy Pearl, Coffee Truffle, Taro Paste Truffle, Green Tea Matcha Truffle, Passion Fruit Truffle, Peppermint Chocolate Truffle, Strawberry Truffle and an additional flavour of Lemon Truffle.

My nose helps me to identify the filling in the pale yellow snow skin mooncake. From its strong fragrance, I know it’s the snow skin mooncake stuffed with fresh durian!

These handcrafted delicacies are made with natural ingredients with no preservatives and I’m reminded that when the snow skin varieties are brought home, they should be kept refrigerated to preserve its quality.

Chef Go smiles widely when we meet again at Wan Li as he remembers me from previous events.

I can see that he’s much more comfortable with demonstrating the art of hand-making mooncakes under our watchful eyes, as cameras clicked and videos filmed.

Besides carrying out a demo, Chef Go also invited guests to join him for a hands-on experience in shaping the pastries into traditional wooden moulds that are designed with an embossed rendition of the capital letter “R” for Renaissance Hotel.

Chef Go Yong Jia presents a gift box
of freshly baked mooncakes by Wan Li

So when the pastries are popped out of the mould with a loud ‘Bang!’ the letter “R” appears clearly embossed on top of the mooncakes.

The annual celebration the Mid-Autumn Festival on the lunar calendar coincides with Sept 24 this year. Most traditional Chinese homes would celebrate with a family dinner, not unlike the reunion dinner held on the eve of the lunar new year.

While the menu for the Mid-Autumn Festival may not be as elaborate or rich with auspicious ingredients, this reunion dinner will bring the family together again.

For this festive season, the culinary team at Wan Li has created a menu that includes interesting new dishes like Sea Prawns and Glass Noodles simmered in a claypot and Crunchy Mixed Vegetables with Crispy Lotus Roots.

It is a tradition for families and friends to present each other with mooncakes and these gifts of mooncakes packed in lovely boxes, are usually brought to the reunion dinner and presented to the host with pride.

Traditional baked and snow skin handcrafted mooncakes are exclusively available from Wan Li for a limited time until Sept 24.

A set of eight snow skin mooncakes is priced at RM98 nett and a set of four baked mooncakes cost RM98 nett only while the set of eight snow skin Durian mooncakes is at RM168 nett.

A range of traditional baked mooncakes with gift boxes and traditional wooden moulds at Wan Li

For bulk orders, enjoy 10% discount for purchases above 10 boxes, 15% discount for purchases above 25 boxes and 25% discount for purchases above 100 boxes.

Club Marriot Members will enjoy 20% discount on purchases.

For advance orders and enquiries, Tel: +607 – 381 3388 or email: rhi.jhbbr.wanlirestaurant@renaissancehotels.com

Wan Li Restaurant [Pork-Free] is on the lobby level of the Renaissance Johor Baru Hotel, 2 Jalan Permas 11, Bandar Baru Permas Jaya, 81750 Masai, Johor.