Welcome to our Chinatown Mid-Autumn Festival Trail.
GALLERY
Exclusive photos at Tai Chong Kok, Tea Chapter and the Lantern Stall
Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节
The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the lunar calendar especially the night of a fun moon.
大中国
Tai Chong Kok (TCK) bakery was set up in 1935 by Tham Kai Chee, a Chinese entrepreneur from Guangzhou. Since then, it has been creating delicious treats for many generations in Singapore. TCK is a family business, which is run by the 3rd generation of the Tham family currently.
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During Chinese New Year, TCK sells the handmade Lunar New Year cakes, which is commonly known as nian gao. It symbolizes growth for the year ahead. Today TCK is one of the few bakeries that still follow the traditional method that steam these cakes in banana leaves to give them an authentic flavor.
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The TCK outlet in Chinatown used to be very rundown. During the last few years, painting and lighting have been changed. The wall is red now with more pictures on the wall. The new lighting makes the shop much brighter and joyful. Some potential customers could be attracted to the shop due to the new renovation of the shop.
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During Mid-Autumn Festival, TCK sells handmade mooncakes, which symbolize union. They follow the traditional method to prepare mooncakes. The insistence on using the best ingredients through the most authentic way set them different from others. The most popular mooncake of TCK is the one with lotus seed paste. TCK does not get the paste from others and shafts it inside mooncakes. Instead of that, they make the paste themselves; they cook the lotus seed from scratch. Similar to other flavors of mooncakes, such as red bean mooncakes, the red bean paste is made from scratch as well.
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The packaging of TCK is very traditional and vintage. They have been using the stringed brown paper bags for mooncakes for decades. It is the special experience that TCK want to bring to their customers. The packaging of mooncake remains the same as well except that TCK redo the picture which is in front of the box to make it clearer. The tin box was used during older days which was the same as other brands, then it was changed to the paper box with the same design. But this year, TCK started to use the tin box again. These are the packaging that TCK have being preserving over the years.
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If you want to know more about TCK, come down to one of their outlets, just like what this girl did!
Lantern Stall
The Lantern Stall has been operating in Chinatown for more than 10 years. The shop specialises in the resale of Chinese festive lanterns which meets the needs of the local traditions and satisfies the interests of many tourists.
Lantern Stall
The Lantern Stall has both locals and tourists as customers. Tourists from neighbouring countries contribute to the bulk of its sales. They make regular purchases throughout the year. Its local customers are mainly Singaporean Chinese and occasionally corporate customers, such as event organisers and representatives from shopping centres. The local customers, on the other hand, only make purchases during the festive periods, such as Chinese New Year and Mid Autumn Festival. People usually buy red lantern during Chinese New year as red symbolizes good luck.
Tea Chapter
As part of the national effort to increase cultural awareness amongst the younger generation, Tea Chapter has collaborated with local primary and secondary schools to conduct Learning Journey programs. Overall, the program has been very well-received.
Tea Chapter
Amongst its wide variety of tea offering, the Imperial Golden Cassia is Tea Chapter’s bestseller. The Imperial Golden Cassia is a light oolong tea with natural flavours and aroma of the Osmanthus flower. Its light yet fragrant aroma makes it a favourite amongst both seasoned and new tea drinkers.
Tea Chapter
The teahouse prides itself in the quality of its tea leaves, ensuring that the tea leaves are of the purest and best quality. It sources tea leaves from China and Taiwan, only from companies which they have a long-term relationship with and can trust.
Tea Chapter
Tea Chapter’s product offering consists not only of the tea leaves and brewed tea, but also on the entire tea brewing process and traditional tea art experience. In recent years, it has started holding tea appreciation events for companies.
Tea Chapter
With the conducive environment and ambience at Tea Chapter, many business entrepreneurs use the teahouse as a place to talk business or hold their project meetings.
Tea Chapter
Tea Chapter has a rich history. It is one of the very first teahouses set up in Singapore. A notable event in the teahouse history would be the visit by Queen Elizabeth herself on 10th October 1989, just 9 days after the teahouse was set up. The teahouse recently celebrated its 27th anniversary.
Tea Chapter
Tea Chapter was set up by a group of 13 friends after their graduation from Singapore Institute of Management University (SIM). During their university days, they were introduced to Chinese tea art and since then, they were intrigued and fell in love with the art. As of October 2016, all 13 founders are still in the business.