Kia Hiang Restaurant – Mooncakes Packed with Tradition & Innovation

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Isn’t the Mid-Autumn Festival colorful? Year after year, hotels and restaurants create new mooncake flavors quicker than you can say champagne truffle mooncake. It’s always fun to see what they whip up to please the diverse palates of Singaporeans.

Kia Hiang Restaurant, in particular, have been the first to introduce several innovative and exciting mooncake flavors. Chocolate, durian purée and bak kwa (sweet barbecued pork) are just a few ingredients that have crept into the mooncakes of this traditional yet innovative Chinese restaurant.

Intrigued?

Classic lotus paste mooncakes (large)
Red lotus paste: $19 (2 pieces), $36 (4 pieces)
White lotus paste: $20 (2 pieces), $38 (4 pieces)
Double yolk, red lotus paste: $22 (2 pieces), $41 (4 pieces)
Double yolk, white lotus paste: $23 (2 pieces), $44 (4 pieces)

The distinctiveness of Kia Hiang’s classic mooncakes is that they are low in sugar and thus not overtly sweet. They use peanut oil instead of lard, too. So, if the thought of consuming 1,000 calorie mooncakes worries you, go for the restaurant’s range of low sugar mooncakes.

Not only are the mooncakes healthier, they still remain delicious. The crust is thin and light with a nice fragrance. Even for the double-yolk mooncakes that I normally shun, I find that the salted yolks are fresh and moist with just enough flavor. I’m a convert!

Bak Kwa (barbecued pork) & selected nuts mooncake

Bak Kwa (barbecued pork) & selected nuts mooncake
Mini: $25 (6 pieces), $36 (9 pieces)
Large: $22 (2 pieces), $41 (4 pieces)

The newest innovation this year is the bak kwa mooncake, the result of over 200 man-hours of brainstorming, experimenting and testing. It combines bits of bak kwa that the Chinese so love with coarsely chopped almonds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and winter melon.

You can clearly see that the pastry is tightly compressed with the various ingredients. So each bite is extra crunchy and packed with flavor!

Snowskin mooncakes from Kia Hiang Restaurant, Singapore

Check out the colorful snowskin mooncakes. Not only are they pretty to look at, they are also extremely delectable!

Mooncakes from Kia Hiang Restaurant, Singapore

The snowskin selection comes in four flavors:

yellow – durian
brown – chocolate with rum and raisin
green – green tea lotus paste
purple – blueberry and cheese

Just by looking at the list alone, I know that at least 3 of the 4 are guaranteed to be big hits.

Chocolate with rum and raisin snowskin mooncake

Chocolate with rum and raisin snowskin mooncake
SGD28 (6 pieces), $40 (9 pieces)

Marry chocolate with mooncake and you get a yummy hybrid of a dessert that is similar to a chocolate fondant. That’s not all.

Sprinkled within the rich chocolate custard are californian raisins. The taste of jamaican rum is evident, too. chocolate with liquor is always a welcome combination in my books. This is the kind of food that your doctors warn you to stay away from but you know you don’t wanna. Mmm… Delicious sin.

Durian snowskin mooncake

Durian snowskin mooncake
Mini: $28 (6 pieces), $40 (9 pieces)
Large: $26 (2 pieces), $48 (4 pieces)

If you’re a durian lover, the durian snowskin mooncake is pure heaven. This isn’t simply one of those durian-flavored paste-filled mooncakes. It’s pure silky smooth D24 durian pulp, or in other words, the real stuff!

The restaurant is also famous for its durian mochi. That, I must and will blog about in an upcoming post. It is a dessert to die for.

Mini lotus paste mooncakes

Classic lotus paste mooncakes (mini)
Red lotus paste: $24 (6 pieces), $34 (9 pieces)
White lotus paste: $25 (6 pieces), $36 (9 pieces)

When you buy a box of Kia Hiang mooncakes, you may be surprised by the heavyweight packaging. Instead of the usual tin or cardboard boxes, the mooncakes are packaged in traditional wooden boxes. While they’re not terribly environmentally-friendly, I’m sure, they do impress as gifts.

Mooncake from Kia Hiang Restaurant, Singapore

Many thanks to Kia Hiang Restaurant for sending me their mooncakes for sampling. My family are, honestly, utterly enjoying the savory pastries. Get a piece at the locations below or via their website.

Kia Hiang Restaurant
201 Kim Tian Road #01-400
Singapore 160201
(65) 6273 7352 / 6272 0087
www.kiahiang.com.sg

Bus services: 147, 167, 196, 197, 961
Nearest MRT: Tiong Bahru

Also available at the following locations:
- Century Square, level 1
- Chevron House (Change Alley)
- Takashimaya Square, basement 2
- VivoCity, facing Tangs
- Raffles City, level 3
- Bugis Junction
- Raffles Xchange

For more on Sparklette:

About the Author

Veron Ang is the founder and chief editor of Sparklette. She lives in Singapore and has dined and traveled across the world. She also runs Sparklette Studio, a web design and WordPress development firm. If you'd like to connect with her, head on over to the contact page or follow her personal updates on Twitter: @VeronSG.

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13 responses

Leave your comment

Camemberu
September 1, 2009

Wow chocolate rum and raisin?? How to resist!? The durian one too, sounds divine!

The mooncakes look great. Thin crust!

Look forward to seeing the durian mochi post!
Reply
- Veron
  September 2, 2009
  
  Yeah! Having a thin crust is one of the most important criteria of a good mooncake (to me anyway).
  
  You sound like a durian lover! I wasn’t until I had their durian mochi. Not exaggerating here. Will blog about it soon! :)
  Reply
Melissa
September 3, 2009

That chocolate fondant mooncake looks sinful! The durian one too!

Personally I still prefer the traditional skin than the snowskin. A lot of places these days come up with funny funny ingredients for their snowskin mooncakes until they don’t taste like mooncakes anymore. There are exceptions of course, like the Raffles Hotel champagne truffle mooncakes :)
Reply
- Veron
  September 4, 2009
  
  Oh yes. Looks like we have the same taste :) By default I would also choose the traditional skin over the snowskin. The merchants have to be creative in their mooncake flavors because everyone else is doing the same thing! Glad to say, many of these innovative creations are super yummy.
  Reply
stardropx
September 5, 2009

wow! i was just wondering where to get less sugar mooncakes which are healthier for elderly and you have it there! no lard oil some more! really thanks for this great intro!! =)

i guessed i have to make reservation right? it’s too early to buy them off the counter now.
Reply
- Veron
  September 7, 2009
  
  Great! I have specially highlighted the low sugar mooncakes because I really like the fact that they don’t taste overtly sweet and are healthier, too :)
  
  I have checked it out for you. The mooncakes can already be bought from Kia Hiang Restaurant currently. For the other listed locations, they would be available from September 15.
  Reply
  - stardropx
    September 11, 2009
    
    OH! I didn’t know there is ONLY one kia heng restaurant! HAhaHa! No wonder I couldn’t locate the restaurant at taka when I tried so hard to find it! So it’s gonna just be a temp counter selling its mooncakes ah? Alright, thanks for the updates! Tung Lok’s mooncakes look not bad too. They are even for sales at CHEERS!! kinda weird though. haha.
    Reply
    - Veron
      September 11, 2009
      
      Yes, you’re right. At Takashimaya basement 2 it would be one of those food fairs with dozens of merchants. This particular one is the annual mooncake fair.
      
      Tung Lok mooncakes at Cheers? That’s REALLY weird! Haha kinda “cheapens” the brand doesn’t it?
      Reply
winter
September 8, 2009

have u tried marriot’s durian snowskin mooncakes? it’s super yummy. i wonder does this brand tastes as good.. the prices are pretty similar to marriot’s one. i love mooncakes. yum yum. heh
Reply
- Veron
  September 8, 2009
  
  Oh I haven’t sampled Marriot’s durian mooncakes before so I can’t comment on which is better. Maybe someone who has had the luxury of tasting both can tell us!
  Reply
ken
September 16, 2009

with so many varieties now on the market, sometimes i just prefer to good ol’ baked ones ;)
Reply
Lim
February 17, 2010

I don’t know about the moon cakes but the food and service at the restaurant is terrible, my experience.
Reply