2017 Mooncake Gift Selection – Creative Offerings from Japanese-Inspired & Hong Kong-Style Michelin Restaurants

By MOOK Scenic Spots Editorial Team

As the Mid-Autumn Festival approaches, hotels, restaurants, and dessert shops are rolling out a variety of mooncakes to attract customers. In addition to Hong Kong-style mooncakes making their way into Taiwan’s market — even launching pop-up stores — Michelin-starred restaurants are also releasing their own mooncake collections for foodies to choose from. Dessert brands are continuing their signature product elements but innovating in packaging to reflect the essence of the Mid-Autumn Festival. Hotels, too, are going all out to offer elegant and luxurious gift boxes. The diverse creativity and designs of these mooncakes not only cater to both gift-giving and personal enjoyment, allowing consumers to select based on their preferences and needs, but also provide travelers with more options such as limited-edition Mid-Autumn gift boxes when choosing souvenirs.

1. Kagaya
Nikken Sekkei Kagaya has once again collaborated with the cultural creative team “Artop,” using the Edo-period popular “ukiyo-e” (woodblock prints) as inspiration for the packaging design. Leveraging ukiyo-e’s realistic and delicate brushwork, the packaging showcases the majestic presence of towering mountains and vast oceans, along with a hazy full moon that evokes the classical elegance of the Mid-Autumn Festival. It embodies a refined Japanese traditional sentiment, creating the visual imagery of “Over the sea rises the moon, shared by all at the ends of the earth.” The overall shape of the gift box radiates a sense of heavenly affection, refined nobility, and happiness, conveying warm blessings infused with the essence of moonlight.

2. Marriott Hotel
Taipei Marriott Hotel blends classic elegance with modern fashion, presenting a Cantonese-style mooncake gift box featuring four highly popular flavors: “XO Sauce Egg Yolk,” “White Lotus Seed Paste with Egg Yolk,” “Cognac Longan with Egg Yolk,” and “Yuzu Earl Grey with Egg Yolk.” The set comes with eight exquisitely sized pieces, offering a refined tasting experience.

3. BAKE
Beyond barbecues and mooncakes, BAKE CHEESE TART offers something different this Mid-Autumn Festival. Their highlight is the autumn gift box — the BAKE CHEESE TART Golden Moon Gift Box. Carefully selected high-quality ingredients from Hokkaido are combined with Taiwan’s festive gifting culture and presented in a traditional Japanese furoshiki cloth wrapping, replacing the conventional paper bag for an elegant presentation. The furoshiki wrap is not only tastefully designed but also reusable in various ways, giving consumers a fresh and eco-friendly alternative for seasonal gifting.

4. Hong Kong Maxim's Mooncakes
Classic Cantonese mooncakes are making their explosive gel-filled debut in Taiwan this fall. Hong Kong Maxim's Mooncakes, which have been No. 1 in Hong Kong sales for 19 consecutive years, have opened their first-ever 3D moonlit pop-up store in Taiwan’s Xinyi District. The store features hyper-realistic decorative displays including the moon, maple trees, jade rabbits, and Maxim's signature “Flowing Custard Mooncakes.” The classic Cantonese flavors “Double Yolk White Lotus Seed Paste Mooncake” and “Double Yolk Lotus Seed Paste Mooncake” have won the Cantonese mooncake ranking championship three years in a row. Their self-developed and unique “Flowing Custard Mooncake,” with its distinctive burst-in-your-mouth filling, has sparked a custard trend since its launch. Additionally, they’ve introduced the “Flowing Yolk White Lotus Seed Paste Mooncake” for the first time, reinterpreting the traditional lotus seed paste flavor to offer a multi-layered taste experience.