Jewels Artisan Chocolate - Mooncakes 2011

Following up from my favourite mooncakes from last year, this year I got another box of Jewels mooncakes. Out of the ones I tried, Jewels snowskin mooncakes are the only ones that compete with the ones from the Raffles (and that's not by chance, since it's the same hands behind them), except I actually prefer the Jewels selection of flavours.

Luckily, the flavours haven't really changed from last year, since their selection has been largely appreciated, except from a new signature flavour: the Korean Black Garlic. Chef Then Chui Foong has been playing with this ingredient in combination with chocolate for quite some time now. In particular, I thought that her Korean black garlic ice cream was innovative and delicious. I bet she has been waiting for months for the mooncakes season, to come up with her ultimate black garlic creation. The fermented clove of black garlic placed in the middle of the mooncake releases a deep, licorice like flavour with a smooth tone of acidity. It is quite a unique taste with a tinge of garlic flavour, but extremely tamed, without the pungent, aggressive aspects of regular garlic. A must try!

My second favourite remains the salted caramel truffle. I like the combination of the gentle saltiness of Palm Island sea salt with the crunchy winter melon seeds.

The dark chocolate crunchy pearl mooncakes are quite familiar to many, since they are also sold by the Raffles Hotel. This mooncake will be appreciated by those who love chocolate, mint, and a bit of crunch. Really something quite different from the other classic truffle mooncakes, the mint-chocolate combination reminds me of the classic "After Eight" thin chocolates!

Besides the Espresso truffle flavour, there is also a Champagne truffle mooncake on the menu, which is the all time favourite for most and Jewel's one is outstanding. After all, I am such a big fan of their Perle Noir chocolate, which is basically made from the same Champagne truffle you would find inside the mooncake, surrounded by crunchy pearls!

I got bitten so many times by sloppy snowskin mooncakes that nowadays I can hardly trust buying them from random places, and Jewels remains on top of my list.

Website: http://www.jewels.com.sg/