Lung Moon Bakery: Mooncake All Day, Errday

I've been meaning to get some mooncake for a while now, especially since Mid-Autumn Festival was a few weeks ago. To subdue my cravings, I went to this little shop in Chintatown called Lung Moon Bakery.

They have an assortment of pastries, but what really makes this bakery stand out is that they make mooncakes YEAR ROUND. I didn't buy or inquire about any other pastries, although their egg tarts looked really good. As my friend Kathy would say, "The moon is up somewhere in the world, and that's reason enough to have mooncake."

Here is a shot of the exterior. You can see the hustle and bustle that is Chinatown, but the best part of this photo is that old Asian man with a NY hat. Also their sign is missing a Y...it happens.

As you walk in there's the typical glass counter with all of their pastries on display. Everything is priced very reasonably. The double yolk mooncake usually sells at 4 dollars, which is exactly what it's priced at here. Everything looked delicious, so I'm sure I'll be back soon to try their other pastries.

They don't make the "ice skin" mooncake or the candied winter melon filling mooncake, but they have all the other basic flavors such as the white lotus seed paste, red bean paste, and the five kernel with bits of cured ham (which is super authentic and pretty hard to find). They also have some nontraditional flavors like green tea. You can buy each flavor with or without the salted duck egg yolk. I was talking to one of the guys in Cantonese and he told me they could make the winter melon filling, but I would have to order it ahead of time. I think this is largely due to the fact that candied winter melon is highly perishable, and the same is true with the ingredients in a "ice skin" moon cake. The guy I talked to was pretty friendly and helpful, so bonus points for friendly staff.

*UPDATE* I've tried their egg tarts, and it was seriously one of the best egg tarts I've had. The crust was perfectly flake, and not burnt/stale. The consistency of the custard was on point. I also tried their sweetheart cakes (Lao Po Bing), which I didn't think were that great. The crust was a bit too thick, and the filling wasn't quite flavorful enough. I'm really particular when it comes to Lao Po Bing though. I did think that Wong Wah Bakery House makes them perfectly though. The candied winter melon they use isn't perfectly ground to paste so there's a crunch to every other bite. I'll take some pics and write a review next time I head down there.

Here's a pic of their cooking facilities.

I bought four, so they gave me a nice container to hold them in. To be honest, I've never had handmade mooncakes before. Generally manufacturers mass produce mooncakes and sell them in tin boxes like this at grocery stores. My dad usually buys them from the stores the day after Mid-Autumn Festival because that's when the mooncakes are all on sale. The box of four ran me $15.75.

You can see they marked each one so I could differentiate them. I ordered one green tea, one red bean, and two double yolk white lotus seed. I'm sure you can figure out which one is which.

This is the traditional white lotus seed moon cake with two salted duck egg yolks inside. When I cut the cake, the knife went through like butter. I don't think I've ever felt a moon cake so soft before. The crust however was a bit thinner, and a bit flakier than I thought it would be, I think this bakery has reduced the oil in their recipe--that or it has been sitting there for a while. I've only had manufactured mooncakes growing up, but according to my mother, the flaky crust is how authentic mooncakes are suppose to be. She also informed that if the crust and the filling feel loose and separate, then it means the mooncake is old.

The egg yolks seemed a bit dry when I ate it. Usually the yolk has a light oil coating to prevent them from being overly powdery, but it might also have to do with a lower oil recipe--that, or it has been sitting around since Mid-Autumn Festival. Despite the size of the cakes, they are quite dense and quite rich, these are best with a cup of tea.