From September Bun House and Tea Room, the Cantonese cocktail den inspired by 1960s Hong Kong and set beneath the streets of Soho, celebrates the Mid-Autumn festival with mooncakes. Symbolic of the season’s first full moon, the sweet cakes take up a month-long residency on the menu in the lead up to the festival itself at the start of October.
Recollecting co-founder Z He’s childhood memories, mooncakes are an indispensable staple of any Chinese household during the Mid-Autumn festival. 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.
Downstairs in the neon-lit surroundings of the Team Room, a mooncake flight will be available throughout September that will include matcha, purple yam and candied winter melon flavours served alongside Tea Room’s signature Baijiu cocktails, and two special cocktails to mark the occasion: Taro & Sesame and Pu’er Tea & Sorghum. An accompanying food menu of snacks is also available, 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.
“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,” says Tea Room Co- Founder Z He. “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.”
