Mooncake Festival: A Non-Traditional Tradition at Vikings Luxury Buffet

Wazzup Pilipinas!

September 8 is special for millions of Chinese because of the Mid-Autumn Festival, better known by its monicker as the Mooncake Festival. It is a big deal for being one of the four most important Chinese festivals, second only to the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations. The festival is for lunar worship and moon watching when mooncakes are regarded as an indispensable delicacy.

As per Wikipedia, "Mooncakes are offered between friends or on family gatherings while celebrating the festival. It is customary for businessmen and families to present them to their clients or relatives as presents, (making the mooncake business profitable during the season.)

These ubiquitous bite-sized chunks of pastry are filled with everything from red bean paste, lotus seeds, almonds, egg yolk, minced meat, candied fruits or chocolate. There are literally hundreds of varieties found throughout the region and in cosmopolitan areas such as Hong Kong and Shanghai, well-to-do folk can even munch on moon cakes of black truffle, caviar and foie gras."

Vikings Luxury Buffet, the Philippines' largest buffet restaurant is not to be outdone during the season as they offer their customers several kinds of mooncakes that are considered as the non-traditional due to the specially customized recipe and labor of love that accompanied the creation of these yummy delicacies.

For sure you will go lunatic or "loony" from all these mooncake choices that are now available at the buffet tables during every weekend of September.

Vikings Luxury Buffet is proud to offer non-traditional mooncake variations aside from the traditional mooncakes that have an imprint on top consisting of the Chinese characters for "longevity" or "harmony", as well as the name of the bakery and the filling inside. Imprints of the moon, the Lady Chang'e on the moon, flowers, vines, or a rabbit (symbol of the moon) may surround the characters for additional decoration.

Beef Bourguignon Mooncake with Choron Sauce and the Minced Goat Cheese Mooncake with Mango Coulis

The first plate served was composed of the Beef Bourguignon Mooncake with Choron Sauce (left) and the Minced Goat Cheese Mooncake with Mango Coulis (right). Sounds so "royalty" for me that I couldn't resist myself from digging in to try them already.

I've learned that the Beef Bourguignon Mooncake with Choron Sauce is adapted from a well-known French recipe also known as Beef Burgundy, a stew prepared with beef braised in red wine, traditionally red Burgundy, and beef broth, generally flavored with garlic, onions and a bouquet garni, with pearl onions and mushrooms added towards the end of cooking.

The Choron sauce is a hollandaise or a variation of the classic Bearnaise sauce made by adding tomato paste to the standard Bearnaise. The Bearnaise sauce is made of clarified butter emulsified in egg yolks, white wine vinegar and flavored with herbs. The tasty and creamy sauce added a perfect finishing touch to the recipe.

The Minced Goat Cheese Mooncake with Mango Coulis is an amazing example of how a little goat cheese turns a simple mooncake into something much more special, while the sweet fruit juices and earthy spices come together to create the sensational Mango Coulis to help bring out an added flavor to the gourmet mooncake.

Salted Lotus Mooncake

I am definitely coming back for the Salted Lotus Mooncake that was obviously my favorite among all the gourmet mooncakes that were served to us. I think I ate a whole piece of this because of the inclusion of salted egg inside as part of the sumptuous filling.

The Asado Mooncake is something like a smaller version of the Salted Lotus Mooncake. Though I got to taste more of the goodness of the Salted Lotus variety since it was big enough to justify a more discerning taste verdict. This smaller variety is almost bite-size and similar in look with a "hopia" if you are not aware of the differences. Since the buffet table would put labels on the dishes, the customers will be able to easily identify them

Meanwhile, the Crispy Shrimp Cheese Mooncake tickled my taste buds more due to thecrispiness of the outer coating. As the name implies, it does offer a different take on the traditional mooncake varieties.

Wild Berry Cheese Mooncake and the Choco Trifle Mooncake

If you're looking for something wickedly indulgent to satisfy a sweet tooth? Look no further. Vikings Luxury Buffet restaurant have just the thing: The Wild Berry Cheese Mooncake and the Choco Trifle Mooncake.

Both colorful mooncake varieties were just too sweet that I am sure every dessert lover may consider these as alternative sugary sweet goodness that are too tempting not to try.

Traditional Mooncakes

Vikings Luxury Buffet will also serve the traditional but high-quality mooncake varieties to satisfy the needs of the traditional customers looking to dine on the popular and well-loved delicacy during the Mooncake Festival month.

Twinings Tea to wash down all the sweetness

 The second to the last set of mooncakes were intentionally sweetened to an extra level to probably satisfy the sweet tooths out there but for the rest of us who wants to wash down all the sugar intake, we were served with hot tea to tome down the sugar rush already jerking our bodies.

I am not so fond of sweet treats that are way to above the normal sugar level, but since the portions of those particular mooncake varieties were small, they were tolerable enough.

Chef Ross and Chef Jason of Viking Luxury Buffet SM Megamall branch

Special thanks to Vikings Luxury Buffet Megamall branch and to the two chefs namely Chef Ross and Chef Jason for the yummy mooncake concoctions they created to celebrate the Mooncake Festival season. We loved each and everyone of them, and we are confident that the frequent and new customers of the buffet restaurant will also fall in love with them. Also a shout-out to Raquel for the invitation to try out the special mooncake varieties that was perfectly timed during the day of the actual Mooncake Festival.

Below is a video invite prepared with the two chefs who creatively crafted these unique recipes only available at Vikings Luxury Buffet restaurants. The menu will vary per branch depending on the branches chefs' creativity and taste.

Here's wishing everyone a Happy Mid-autumn Festival! Enjoy the moon and all it's glory tonight. Remember to always Eat Like A Viking every time you visit Vikings Luxury Buffet - A Feast from the Seas!Use the hashtag #eatlikeaviking on Instagram and watch your picture show up on the website (http://vikings.ph/) feed! Help other guests see what the Vikings experience is all about. Show them what it's like to really #eatlikeaviking!

For more information, you may visit their Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/vikingssmmegamall