Lai Ching Yuen, Grand Millennium Kuala Lumpur, Mooncake Class by Caning Jaramillo
Recently we had the fortune to return to Lai Ching Yuen, Grand Millennium Kuala Lumpur’s non-halal Chinese Restaurant. This time round we discovered one of the most prized foods in the Mid-Autumn Festival, the mooncake. Also known as the Reunion Festival, it is traditionally celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month which falls in either September or October. Second only to the Spring Festival, it is a time when Chinese people travel from the far corners of the country or globe to reunite and dine with their family.
Grand Millennium Kuala Lumpur, on this occasion, is featuring authentic mooncakes made from traditional Chinese recipes. There are a whole range of temptations. Fruit and Nut, Red Bean Paste and Pure Lotus with Single Yolks are just a few of the highlights. For those with more contemporary taste buds, the menu offers Mini Snow Skin Mooncakes with Passionfruit, Durian, Spirulina and Green Tea Lotus Paste flavours.
Not only were we blessed with the chance to sample the various kinds on sale, but we also had a lot of fun participating in a mooncake making class. Each of us was able to try our hand at forming a Mini Snow Skin Mooncake with Passionfruit and Lotus Paste. Under the careful guidance of masterful and cheerful chef Thye, participants learned to roll and manipulate the cottony charcoal skin around the firmer tangy centre, finally moulding it into the template to produce their very own mini snow skin mooncake to take home. While some students were more proficient than others, all were clearly entertained by the experience. The resulting fleecy ebony mound encasing the tart passionfruit paste was polished off by my sweetie before we even got home. I, on the other hand, thought a tropical pairing with a Caribbean rum was more appropriate and delighted in trying slivers of mooncake with sips of a nightcap of Venezuelan and Trinidadian drops.
Prices for the Fortune Mooncake Gift Box are RM112++ per box of 4 items and, the Full Mooncake Gift Box is RM108++ for 8 items. Those who prefer to pack for a simple reunion can choose from a selection of mooncakes with prices range from RM12.80++ to RM29.80++ per piece.
A filling Chinese meal before the class meant we were more alert and ready to cook (without too many fingers going from the batter to our lips). The dishes that made me smile were the Barbecued Roasted Pork with Honey and the majestic Homemade Bean Curd with Angled Luffa Gourd and Scallops so tender and juicy that I began whistling the song of a morning bird.
Reason to visit: Passionfruit Mooncakes, Barbecued Roasted Pork with Honey, Homemade Bean Curd.
Lai Ching Yuen
First floor
Grand Millennium Kuala Lumpur
160 Jalan Bukit Bintang
55100 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
+6 03 2117 4888
Ah! So you were there too. Mooncakes, mooncakes everywhere…but not a single one to eat (with due apologies to Coleridge, Rime of the Ancient Mariner…LOL!!!)! Sobssss!!!!
Ha! I love your poetic inspiration. 🙂 Are you a baked or snow skin fan?
I tasted a bit of passionfruit mooncakes, and I love that.
If they can put a bit of salted egg yolk inside, that will be perfect to me! LOL.
Ahh, I see where you're going with this… I think the salted egg yolk would add a nice contrast the tangy sweetness of the passionfruit.
i heart snow skin mooncake!
Snow skins are my fav too.:-)
ah! i see that you like passionfruit 🙂
Yes, I'm a huge passionfruit fan. 🙂
Moon cake workshop must be so fun! Wish I've the chance to experience that too.
It was even more fun as we had to do no cleaning or preparation – just the fun bit of rolling and moulding 🙂
Looks like he really had fun learning mooncake making 🙂
Hee! Can his smile get any bigger? 😉
You and Ken really had fun that night!!! Hahaha!
Happy Mooncake Festival to you in advance! ^^
Thanks Eunice! Yeah, it's all about a good time. 🙂
gosh, mooncake mania is moving full steam ahead! i wonder whether a million mooncakes might have been consumed in kl this year by the time the festival approaches 😀
I wonder how you could calculate that? With all the mooncake post, I might be willing to wager more than a million 🙂
I like the passionfruit and durian one!
Passionfruit I'm all over. Durian…??? 🙂
You are a real inspiration and I wish I could follow in your footsteps.
Ha! I still have a lot to learn! 😉
The passionfruit was absolutely delightful!