Today I took my kids to the Chicago Peninsula to pick up our mooncake order. It was the first time I’ve been in the general vicinity of the Pen since the Mid-Autumn Festival last week. But the Pen was taking orders for pick-up through tomorrow, so we got there just in time.
Just before we left for the Pen with my mom, I decided to book a reservation for lunch at Shanghai Terrace, the Pen’s Chinese restaurant. As it turned out, my mom and I couldn’t keep up with the kids. The dumplings shown here are vegetable (lower bamboo steamer), prawn and pea shoot (upper left), and lobster and chicken with black truffle (upper right).
The dim sum was gone in the matter of minutes, so we ordered three more types. The kids were up for dessert, so we ordered this refreshing Cantonese dish. It’s a mango and tapioca soup with coconut cream, seasonal fruit, and banana cake.
And now for the mooncakes! We waited until we returned home to open them. I ordered a box with two mooncakes and six sachets of three types of tea.
The kids shared the first mooncake.
I ate some of the second mooncake. The outside tasted like shortbread. And the inside was a sweet egg custard, a nice (and preferable) take on the traditional egg yolk mooncake filling.
Although these mooncakes are smaller than the ones sold in Asian groceries, I far preferred the Pen’s and will probably go for the box of four next year! Until then, I’ll enjoy the tea.
If you celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival, what was your highlight from the holiday?
*Jealous* Hehe I wanted to do moon cake for Mid-Autumn Festival, but it was too expensive for just six of them 🙁 Few years back I went to a show for Mid-Autumn Festival and went kind of nuts over moon cakes haha. I’m craving one…hmm my birthday is coming up soon 😉 on October 5th, evil thoughts 😀
I spent the holiday with my mother-in-law’s boyfriend’s family (while my husband was at work). I had to do this last Chinese New Year and it was really awkward for me, but this time around I felt more comfortable–that was the highlight for me!
Wow, every time you post about dining at the Pen, it always looks so enchanting and glamorous! Hope I’ll have the chance one of these days to try out their food and hospitality.
The highlight of my Mid-Autumn? Probably that amazing vegan dinner we had on the day of the holiday was definitely it. (in doing so, we also discovered one incredible restaruant in our neighborhood!)