From classic Cantonese-style and savory fresh pork mooncakes to vegetarian options and innovative new flavors, Shanghai's time-honored brands are offering a variety of treats for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Xing Hua Lou (杏花楼)

Founded in 1851, Xing Hua Lou is celebrating its 175th anniversary this year with classic mooncakes and a new anniversary-themed collection.

Its classic range includes traditional metal tins and baskets, along with familiar Cantonese-style flavors such as red bean paste, lotus seed paste, mixed nuts, coconut, and salted egg yolk with lotus seed paste.

The anniversary collection includes a special 175th-anniversary gift box featuring a gold-toned design of Chang'e flying to the moon. It contains eight mooncakes, with classic flavors alongside new options such as butter coffee, bean paste with osmanthus and fermented rice, and red bean with coix seed.

Guang Ming Cun (光明邨)

Guang Ming Cun is renowned for its fresh pork mooncakes, made using a traditional two-sided pan-frying method. Five flat pans are used simultaneously, with about 60 mooncakes per pan. Each mooncake is turned three or four times by hand with a small bamboo spatula, and each batch takes around 30 to 40 minutes to prepare.

Fresh from the pan, the mooncakes have a golden, flaky crust and a juicy pork filling. The filling uses a 3:7 ratio of fat to lean meat, with soy sauce adding a balanced, savory, and slightly sweet flavor.

Zhen Lao Da Fang (真老大房)

Zhen Lao Da Fang's traditional technique for making fresh pork mooncakes is listed as a district-level intangible cultural heritage item in Huangpu. The mooncakes are made by hand: the pastry is prepared, the filling added, and each mooncake stamped before being baked at up to 240 C for about 20 minutes.

Alongside its classic fresh pork mooncakes, the brand has introduced new flavors this year, including fresh pork with fermented red bean curd sauce, shrimp and fresh pork, and fresh pork with crab meat and roe.

Shen Da Cheng (沈大成)

Shen Da Cheng has introduced two new mooncake flavors this year: sweet fermented rice and mochi, and Xinjiang dried chili and mixed nuts.

The first combines seasonal osmanthus flowers and sweet fermented rice with soft, stretchy mochi. It has a sweet, slightly tangy flavor with the aroma of rice, milk, and osmanthus.

The second combines Xinjiang dried chili peppers with peach kernels, sunflower seeds, and other nuts. Its filling is savory, nutty, crisp, and mildly spicy, making it a good pairing with tea.

Da Fu Gui (大富贵)

Da Fu Gui has introduced two new mooncake flavors this year: sea salt and pork floss, and prune paste.

The brand has also worked with Xiangshan TCM Hospital on black rice mochi and taro paste with crispy seaweed and pork floss.

Jie Er Jing (洁而精)

Founded in 1927, Jie Er Jing is known for its signature green pea paste. The restaurant has made the dish into a popular green pea paste mooncake available year-round.

The pastry is made with lard and baked until golden and flaky, while the filling is smooth and delicate, with a fresh green pea aroma and moderate sweetness.

Chunfeng Songyuelou (春风松月楼)

Songyuelou's vegetarian mooncakes are a traditional Mid-Autumn Festival treat enjoyed by many Shanghai residents. Four flavors are available: seaweed, mixed nuts, red bean paste, and mushroom.

The fillings are prepared by hand in-house. The seaweed mooncake has a light pepper-and-salt flavor, while the mushroom filling is savory and rich. The recipe uses less sugar and oil, resulting in crisp, flaky mooncakes that are light and not overly sweet.

Sanyang Nanhuo Store (三阳南货)

Sanyang Nanhuo Store's Ningbo-style pastry-making technique is listed as a district-level intangible cultural heritage item in Huangpu. Its premium seaweed and pine nut mooncake is vegan and requires more than a dozen steps, from kneading and layering the pastry to preparing and shaping the filling, all done by hand.

The filling pairs savory seaweed with rich, nutty flavors for a balanced sweet-and-savory taste.

Sources: WeChat account of Huangpu district government and the brands mentioned above