This month, Tea Room, the Cantonese cocktail den inspired by 1960’s Hong Kong, will be celebrating the Chinese Mid-Autumn festival with mooncakes downstairs at Bun House in Soho.
Symbolic of the season’s first full moon, the sweet cakes will take up a month-long residency on the menu in the lead up to the festival itself, which will be marked with a Tea Room party on 4 October.
Downstairs in the neon-lit surroundings of the Tea Room, a mooncake flight will be available throughout September which will include matcha, purple yam and candied winter melon flavours, served alongside Tea Room’s signature Baijiu cocktails.
Upstairs at Bun House, mooncakes will be available straight from the shelf and wrapped in custom-decorated packaging. Guests can enjoy two types, a traditional white lotus seed paste recipe, alongside Bun House’s take on the mooncake, which will be filled with custard and encased in golden brown soft outer pastry and embossed with a traditional design featuring the symbols for longevity and prosperity.
Founder Z He said, “For me, mooncakes are reminiscent of my childhood and times where friends and family would come together to celebrate the season’s first full moon. I am busy working on how to put my own own stamp on a classic dish that is enjoyed by millions across China each year.'
As the sun goes down on 4 October, Tea Room will celebrate the Mid-Autumn festival as it plays host to London’s first ever mooncake party. Sound tracked to vintage LPs playing from a restored Jukebox, the bar will be serving up two special cocktails to mark the occasion: Taro & Sesame and Pu'er Tea & Sorghum alongside Tea Room’s full menu of cocktails.
An accompanying food menu of snacks and signature coal skewers will be available as always, whilst elsewhere on the drinks menu guests can expect to find a selection of craft beers imported from Hong Kong, seldom found anywhere else in the UK.