Mooncake season is upon us!
I’m always excited because mid-autumn festival is also near my birthday. If I can’t have cake, at least I can have moonCAKE, right?
Googling “vegan mooncakes Singapore” doesn’t return many promising results, so I decided to go on a vegan mooncake hunt. Here are the results of my findings!
Note: I have written this blog post such that it is foreigner-friendly too. So bear with me for the "duh, isn't that obvious?" moments.
But first, some technicalities to address.
Is 素 (sù) considered vegan?
Here are the definitions. (Chinese-speaking friends, please bear with me.)
vegan → 纯素 chúnsù
vegan → 全素 quánsù
ovo-vegetarian → 蛋素 dànsù
lacto-vegetarian → 奶素 năisù
ovo-lacto-vegetarian → 蛋奶素 dànnăisù
Therefore, 素 (sù) is an umbrella term for anything vegetarian, including vegan items.
Many vegetarian mooncakes are simply labelled as 素 (sù).
Does this make them vegan? I would say most of the time. However, I have come across “素” mooncakes with egg in them twice now. Buyer beware.
The Mooncakes
Let’s organise them based on price, shall we? Cheapest ones first.
All prices are in SGD, and per piece refers to one regular sized mooncake.
Note: I did my best to interrogate the staff on whether the mooncakes were vegan or not, but I would recommend checking with them again, just to be sure.
Less than $10 per piece
The rock bottom cheapest vegan mooncakes can be found at our beloved neighbourhood supermarket NTUC Fairprice. They are in packs of 4, and they sell for between $4 to $4.30. That makes them about $1 each. I know what you are all thinking. Are you sure these won’t make me drop dead or something? Well, I tried them last year and I’m still alive. Taste is decent. The packaging is nothing fancy, but if you serve them on a plate, no one would know. The brands are Glory and MacTaste.
There is a booth at Chinatown called Da Tong Yue Bing (大同月饼) which also has mooncake at similar prices.
Bugis 102 Roasted Chestnut in Chinatown ̶i̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶r̶a̶n̶d̶o̶m̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶p̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶I̶ ̶d̶o̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶u̶s̶u̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶p̶a̶y̶ ̶a̶t̶t̶e̶n̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶o̶ has presumably factory mooncakes going for $5 per piece or $12 for a box of four. The flavour is understandably the default lotus flavour. There is another stall further down that sells similar mooncakes at similar prices.
House of Tau Sar Piah along Balestier Road has the cheapest self-baked vegan mooncakes that I could find. There is only one vegan flavour, and that is the usual lotus paste. One piece goes for $5.50, while four pieces go for $20. While you're at it, why not get the "fish" mooncakes ($1.20), "piglet" mooncakes and/or tau sar piah pastries ($0.70-$0.80) too?
The taste was mellow and pleasant, though the paste itself felt slightly coarse/rough. It's on the sweet side.
Best Taste Bakery has mooncakes going for $2 a piece. These are a little smaller than the usual mooncakes, but larger than mini mooncakes. The staff told me that these were not baked by themselves, but were factory made. They also have other mooncakes going at $5.50 to $9.50. I didn’t ask if these were baked by them or if they were from another factory. Flavours include lotus, red bean, durian and yam.
Lee Guan Cake Shop’s mooncakes had many flavours including red bean, five nuts, green tea, coffee and yam. Of course I bought the coffee one ($7.50). I love coffee flavoured stuff. Alas, I discovered later that there was egg in the ingredients. Not vegan after all, unless it was mislabelled. I did ask and the lady said the mooncakes were vegan. Can someone confront them for me?
Yi Xin Vegan Food (Yi Xin Vegetarian according to Google) in Chinatown offers lotus paste ($7), pandan ($7), and five nuts ($7.50) mooncakes. They are made in a factory or baker in Malaysia.
Locations:
NTUC Fairprice supermarket
Various branches around Singapore
Da Tong Yue Bing
(Chinatown booth near Trengganu Street)
Bugis 102 Roasted Chestnut
On Trengganu Street, near the cross junction with Smith Street
House of Tau Sar Piah
529 Balestier Rd, #01-02, Singapore 329856
Best Taste Bakery
Booth opposite Southeast Asia Hotel
Lee Guan Cake Shop (check ingredients before buying)
Booth opposite Southeast Asia Hotel
Yi Xin Vegan Food
43 Temple St, Singapore 058584
Around $10 per piece
Ci Yan Organic is a vegetarian eatery in Chinatown with a small menu that changes daily. You can also get mooncakes from them! I got their green tea mooncake ($9) and black sesame with macadamia mooncake ($10). I have confirmed with the staff that their mooncakes are vegan. You can bring your container along as the mooncakes are not prepacked.
The black sesame with macadamia mooncake has a quiet and refined taste. The green tea one has a delightful green tea taste, or it it Jasmine tea taste? Anyway, it's not like Japanese matcha, and more like the Jasmine green tea you find here. I loved both the mooncakes from Ci Yan.
Tai Chong Kok (大中国 Da Zhong Guo) at Chinatown has just one vegan option if I’m not wrong. $11 each. The ingredients are clearly listed on the packaging.
Kwan Im Vegetarian Restaurant at Southeast Asia Hotel sells a wide variety of vegan mooncakes with interesting flavours. I bought their cranberry ($12), durian ($10), date paste with walnut ($10), and mushroom five nuts ($12) mooncakes. They give a piglet mooncake (it’s more like a cookie really) with every purchase of four regular sized mooncakes. You can bring your containers along too. They also have snow skin mooncakes! I only realised this after I looked at their price list a few days later.
The durian mooncake reminded me more of the the durian flavouring you get in durian candy or other durian snacks than that of fresh durian itself. Nevertheless, I still find it nice. As for the cranberry mooncake, it tasted more like jam than anything else. *laughs* Ah, the mushroom five nuts. I didn't notice the five nuts part until I bought the mooncake. For the record, I never liked five nuts from when I was a kid. I remember biting into it, expecting sweet lotus paste, and instead found myself with a mouthful of eurgh! So I'm a little biased against it. Anyway, I was expecting the mooncake to taste like ba zhang (savoury rice dumpling) or something. I was so disappointed when I couldn't taste the mushrooms at all, hahaha. And as a thirty-something adult now, five nuts didn't taste that bad after all. But I'm still not a fan of it, especially the orange skin. The date paste with walnut mooncake had an interesting taste. It is reminiscent of dates in Chinese soups or Chinese desserts. Like in cheng tng.
Looking at atrium sales might turn up a few vegetarian/vegan options.
These booths are at People’s Park Complex at Chinatown.
See Lian Cake Shop has three vegetarian options: red bean paste ($5.50 per piece, or $20 for a box of four [$5 each]), lotus paste ($6 per piece, or $22 for a box of four [$5.50 each]), mixed nuts (five nuts)($7.50 per piece, or $28 for a box of four [$7 each]).
I don’t know about you, but I prefer my sakura pink. Alright, jokes aside, Red Sakura has vegetarian white lotus paste (check if they are vegan) selling for $42 for four ($10.50 each) or $22 for two ($11 each).
Baker’s Oven has two vegetarian options (please check if they are vegan): red bean ($49.80 for four, works out to $12.45 each), and assorted nuts (five nuts)($53.80 for four, works out to $13.45 each).
Here are their price lists. I apologise for the reflections. Please make sure to check if they are indeed vegan, as I did not check for these.
Locations:
Ci Yan Organic
8 Smith St, Singapore 058971
34 Sago St, Singapore 059026
Southeast Asia Hotel
190 Waterloo St, Singapore 187965
(Do not confuse with other eateries with similar names.)
Booths at People’s Park Complex
1 Park Road, Singapore 059108
Way more than $10 per piece
If you are looking to indulge in more expensive mooncakes, here are a few options.
Fancy sinking your teeth into pure mao shan wang durian puree encased in gold-dusted black coloured snow skin? Golden Moments gives you just that at $30 per mooncake, or $88.80 for a box of four ($22.20 each). Their booth can be found at Chinatown Point atrium. I only got to try the puree (the filling?) and it was good. But then, I'm no durian connoisseur. Please note that these mooncakes were not labelled vegetarian or vegan, but I read the ingredients and determined that they are vegan.
Delcie’s Desserts and Cakes bakes vegan cakes, cookies, as well as seasonal treats. Most of their mooncakes will set you back $98 for a box of four ($24.50 each). Flavours include white lotus paste with black sesame, white lotus paste with salted mung bean, pandan paste with salted mung bean, and mixed nuts. The first three are cane sugar free, and the last is lower in sugar. They also have gluten free mao shan wang durian snow skin mooncakes ($98 for a box of four). The cheapest mooncakes cost $58 for four (flaky skin pandan paste)($14.50 each) and the most expensive ones $118 for four (keto friendly pandan mooncakes)($29.50 each).
*Images were taken from Delcie's website.
Locations:
Booth at Chinatown Point
133 New Bridge Rd, Singapore 059413
34 Whampoa West #01-83, Singapore 330034
(Next to Boon Keng MRT exit B.)
Mini mooncakes
I was checking out if Miao Yi Vegetarian Restaurant at People's Park Centre had any mooncakes (they didn't) but saw this poster on their walls instead. You can support Mahabodhi Monastery while getting your mini mooncakes if you'd like. If you are getting the assorted flavours, it will be $42 for eight ($5.25 each). I did not check if they are vegan, but it is coming from a monastery... So they can't have eggs in them, right? Anyway, please confirm with them.
Bud of Joy has organic gluten-free snow skin mooncakes with ingredients such as acai berries, raw cacao nibs, pumpkin seeds and chia seeds. Of course, there is a price to match. A box of eight mini mooncakes will set you back by $78 ($9.75 each).
*Image was taken from Bud of Joy's website.
8 Lor Kilat, Singapore 598114
71 Circuit Road, #01-31, Singapore 370071
Phew, that was long! If you think there are other places or mooncakes I should include, do let me know at greencarnival [dot] sg [at] gmail [dot] com. Thank you!
Happy mooncake hunting! And happy mid-autumn!
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