Not sure what these are or what they taste like but the tin is cool!
There were about 100 on a makeshift display near the front of the store tonight but they were selling very fast especially with a couple of Asian Australians who were buying 8 or 10 each. use by 30 Sept 2014.
It's made from a sweet mash of beans.
Something like fudge. A thick, rich filling. People usually cut them into 8 and eat one or two pieces at a time, maybe with tea.
Just some ideas.
Depending on the type they may have 0-3 salted eye-yolks.
0-3 actually. Haha, you ninja edited it, good one.
What's an eye yolk?
That should've been egg yolks :P
Hard boiled, usually a little salty. My preference is without the egg yolk, but each to their own.
Actually, its dependent on the variant… there should be 8 variants
I know there is a lotus seed paste with up to 3 yolks and then there is the "bird food" (five types of seeds/nuts) with up to 3 yolks.
Hmmm, Make sure these aren't Made in China. If they are then even real Chinese won't touch this stuff. Ones made from China are usually made in around 1yr in advance packed with Preservatives and shipped here when Mid Autumn Festival starts.
Also make sure they don't have Lard in it, as it may be contaminated. Mei Sum (the brand in the pic) uses Lard in some of their cakes in Hong Kong, they have now been thrown out due to usage of Contaminated Lard from Taiwan.
That brand is made in Hong Kong no need to worry.
I never know woolies have moon cake and even $14 originally is cheaper than Sydney.
These at woollies were originally selling $14 each, a box of 4 was about $45, when other Asian grocery shops were selling between $22 to $32 for a box of 4.
$45 is around the rrp in Oz.
The $22 ones are made in China & is not the same brand
Ok when I first look at that pic I thought it is the big box of four.
Look like that box is only for one.
@airpoe:
$22-$25 is the market price for good quality box of 4 from Hong Kong (or Taiwan).
The China ones are indeed dodgy and they are often the same price so it's hard to tell.
(looking at the brand helps)
more than $25 and you're being ripped off.
Did you know that you are meant to make these cake at home?
There are a lot of steps to make the cake and you would need to involve the whole family.
And that was the whole purpose of the cake - a family effort.
the best part : i get to eat the "fresh off the oven" crunchy moon cake - something you can't buy from the shop.
We make them every year. Our friends make them too.
Sometime we help out friends, sometime they come over and help us.
Swap and try out different variation.
A very good social bonding activity.
the material cost of the cake is around $2.5 and its labor intensive.
$4 to $5 per cake is normal. the shop add their profit margin on top.
Brand from HK is called Maxims. Chinese name is the same. To me this can mean a few things:
1. Rename due to trademark here
2. To please mainland customers (Meixin is closer to the Pin Yin pronunciation, like Beijing vs Peking)
3. It's actually a fake/ counterfeit/ deceiving customers by using a name that is well known and reputable overseas
And just as Iplau pointed out, the risk here is real. People in HK would not eat mooncakes made in China. People in Taiwan would not eat mooncakes from China.
A friend of mine once bought a tin, packaging looked very similar to the well known HK brands. Tthe egg yolks inside did not taste like egg and had a weird alcohol chemical taste apparently. It was probably made with fake eggs! Oh and it was made in China.
they use duck eggs
Must be fake.
no, authentic moon cake sold in hk use duck egg not chicken egg
This was sold in an Australian Asian grocery stores btw. Fake (chemically made) eggs do existin China. Wouldn't be surprised if it was used in their products.
Taste different to the well known legit hk made brands.
real Chinese? so there are also fake Chinese, Mr Lau? lmao!
this is a bit like how supermarkets try to flog off easter eggs after easter.
Not saying theres anything wrong with it …. its my favourite time to buy them!! (albeit it is a bit late, even for post moon festival)
…. how many yokes ? ;-)
Single cake, double yoke
I think you are yoking.
No, it is eggsactly two yokes.
Yum! Time to shell out the cash.
What a bargain! Sydney?
SA males.
I thought Australian Govenment banned eggs products from overseas especially from Asia.
Not for import, just you can't bring it in by yourself.
Cannot import, but business can import commercially. I'm not sure why.
Not sure why too,
They sure as hell don't check shoes tracking in invasive plants.
Granted they have done a great job with mosquito eggs!
Bafflingly enough, there's a popular dry pet food we can't get over here which is available everywhere else in the world (manufactured in the USA). Our importing laws still prohibit it because it contains egg traces. The brand is Oxbow - other products in their range which don't contain egg are widely available all across Australia.
I see..thanks
These are….um….a very acquired taste.
Not really. Just depends on which one you choose to eat.
Lotus Seed and Red Bean are usually the safest choice for "Westerners" to eat.
Ham & Nuts and Durian varieties are usually an acquired taste.
Ham and nuts sound interesting - I wouldn't be keen to try it, tbh lol.
I always get Kee Wah brand given to me. I like these ones as they come in mini cakes… they're tiny! but perfect for me. They have little seeds in them but no nuts. Love them :)
Durian served in any form is definitely a risk if you haven't had it before!
I'm Chinese, and I still find these moon cakes difficult to eat. Texture and taste is more acceptable over time :s
It's a matter of taste. There are at least 4 varieties of the filling.
Each country and region would tweak them to suit local taste.
you know you're supposed to have the cake with tea under the moonlight right?
(eating the cake by itself is often too dry or too sweet.)
you can always make your own cake and fillings.
it's not hard to do, just lots of steps.
Youtute is full of videos on how to make the mooncake at home.
who know, you may find that one magic combination that works for everyone and become the next Billionaire.
Was just in Malaysia, and they had Durian McFlurries at McD's.
I hadn't eaten in McD's for about 5 years, but had to try one. It was glorious!
Mum and my bro were in Malaysia a few months ago and came back with Durian mooncakes… so much better than the ones we have here and less oily too. The Taro mooncake wasn't bad either.
Still, a lotus paste mooncake once a year is an absolute delight.
I'm living in the wrong country.
Its like a super dense christmas fruit cake - Asian style….
Usually these kind of cakes are very sweet. Usually a half is enough.
Each one has as much energy as a 150-200g chocolate bar. According the the nutritional label.
I don't think you're meant to eat a whole cake at once? My family cut one up and share it, or I cut slices out of one at a time and eat it over like a few days or even longer lol.
Otherwise mega overload… especially with so many yolks in it. Death by calories.
Lol. I bought a couple of boxes from springvale last week for cheap. Had a whole one each day for breakfast…
Yup, I've got an oversupply at home right now so I'm eating half to one each day for breakfast. I should really just give them to neighbours.
@Eivad: my family usually buys one box extra each year and they freeze it! So in say, April, if we have a hankering for mooncake, simply move a moon cake from freeze to fridge to defrost. Works everytime
Yolks don't really contribute much to calories. However it is a mega cholesterol hit though.
1 Yolk on average is around 300% DI lol.
Is it lard-free?
Peanut oil, no lard
Only one I could think of that it would have lard in is the Ham & Nuts version of the moon cakes. The other flavors should be using veg or peanut oil.
Thanks guys.
Holy shit. This is a great brand…! I gotta go there…
Moon. cake.
What a time to be alive.
Back to the freezer with you, Gramps!
What a bargain! Yum yum!
$2.8 is selling at a loss! Since when Woolies sell mooncake? Those were $12 each at Asian supermarkets in Brisbane, and completely sold out well before Moon festival.
I guess this Woolies won't sell that again next year.
use by 30 Sept 2014.
It's just stock removal. Better to make up some of the cost than to not make any at all.
Lol trust me they don't make a loss on these. I know people who import Moon Cakes, they import a box of 4 for less than $5…
a box of 4 for less than $5
Possible on some crappy brand but not on this one. This brand (box of 4) were selling for ~$40 in Hong Kong. How the hell can someone import it for $5??
Most westerners have no idea what Mooncake is let alone buy them.
If woolies want to sell tell people waht it is and what the festival is all about.
Or they can just keep selling them at $2.80 each. Nation wide of course ;-)
Have never seen Mooncake at Woolies!
This is actually the most prestigious brand of mooncake as well!
I thought it was the Wing Wah brand . They also have a "mochi" version but I think they are only sold at certain asian groceries.
Yeah it's between those 2 I reckon. I did a blind tasting one year and I personally like Mei sum more! It was less oily and has a richer flavour, I think. It was a few years ago now!
Any clue whether this is nation wide? Love to try it at this price.
As an asian myself, I would like to just +1 for the description.
Not sure what these are or what they taste like but the tin is cool!
Hilarious.
买椟还珠 a bit isnt it
they sell mooncakes at woolies???? #dawnoftheasiancentury
They also sell knock off Sriracha and knock off pocky too. Dunno how good the knock off Sriracha is but they use the real stuff in their sushi bar.
The Knock Off Pocky is terrible. Seriously, "stick" with Pocky.
See what I did there ;) ?
Nailed it
Yan Yan ain't too bad though
It's not bad it's just not my beloved Glico.
Although at least they sell Meji branded Hello Panda.
It's actually cheaper then what my Asian grocers sell them at.
You could say the price is "bearable".
Also those Onion rings are pretty good too.
Not very good value compared to Kettle chips when on sale but still delicious.
Woolies has a sushi bar?
I'm living in the wrong part of the country.
yeah they opened one up in Tweed City Mall.
I guess they wanted to profit on it since theres already at least two other sushi selling stands in the mall. I just find it sad/amusing that they are using the real Huy Fong Sriracha in their rolls but only sell a knock off on the shelves.
Also if you see a Woolies with a pizza bar (The Strand at Coolangatta) Avoid it unless you like cruddy pizzas (for a horrible pizza like a 7-11 american pizza alternative its pretty good). The crusts are prebaked and brought in bulk and the topping amount is shocking good amount of cheese though. It'd probably be better to not let them cook it and take it home so you can actually add some decent spices and salt.
and either I got new staff or they don't brown the cheese at all. I mean whats the point of having a decent pizza oven if your only going to use prebaked crusts and not brown the toppings.
I knew #dawnoftheasiancentury had arrived when I saw durians in Coles.
Durian actually isn't as bad as people always say.
When it is cold, the smell of durian actually isn't that pungent and you can barely smell it unless it is in front of you and you are sniffing it.
However it is when durian is left out and left to reach room temperature that is when the smell really stinks up the whole room.
Durians are not bad at all! :P
@greenpossum: Yup. Sadly they only bring the crappy Thai durian to Australia.
They need to import more Malaysian Durian to Australia, there isn't many importers so the prices are way too expensive. Malaysian Durian in Australia is around double-triple the price of Thai Durian but tastes so much better.
Went to Malaysia a few yrs ago, had some D24 and Musang King, damn they were awesome.
@lplau: They are hard to source because of limited plantings and all the SE Asians know what's good and snap them up.
If it's anything like Coles the location of the store itself makes a difference.
As far as I remember the stores do have input from the local community that the store is located in for specialty items they stock.
A predominantly Asian suburb would stock several specialty Asian products while a suburb or 2 over has a small line of Indian products because that area is predominantly Indian for example.
So if anyone is after this deal and having no luck at their locals, try a suburb where Asians congregate.
Wow…that's cheap. didn't know they sold it in Woolies. No lard- I saw a press release from hong kong food authority….only in the bread in hong kong. Mexin is a great brand- I think they were giving away a car too…anyone seen any left in Sydney Woolies?
The ice cream ones were pretty good this year
Actually, Mei Sum (in Mandarin Meixin) was one of the main companies that got hit REALLY badly with the contaminated Lard. Quite a lot of their pastries such as Egg Tarts and breads use Lard as a ingredient. They threw out ALOT.
There is already news that Mei Sum has state that no lard is used in the production of mooncakes but Hongkong Authorities of Food and Safety (CFS) conducted a lab test on it.
"Although Maxim's has said they did not use the lard from Chang Guann in making their mooncakes, the CFS is conducting tests on the mooncakes anyway and taking samples of a number of products - bread, cookies, almond strips - which used lard from the four oil importers. CFS reportedly has found no evidence of tainted lard being used in anything other than Maxim's pineapple buns."
http://www.chinatopix.com/articles/9322/20140909/hong-kong-c…
Are they Kosher?
Are you jewish?
jewish new year this month,
Damn, that's cheap, anyone find these in any other states?
I'm not sure what the RRP on these is but at local honest asian store the price is around $5.99
If you are paying over $20 for mooncake. You are doing something wrong.
Do note, going from one store in Eastwood to another can mean a drop of over $10 for the same box of mooncake… So be alert.
the best brands sell them for about $40 for a tin of 4…. Worth it. Have you tried the cheapo ones? /mooncake snob
Ozbargain "Home of Mooncake Snobbery" :D
8200 on 25/09/2014 - 21:22 Comment score below threshold.