Savor the season: Saigon's premium mooncakes

Lacquer box

Park Hyatt Saigon offers two versions of their mooncake collection: an imperial box with lacquer highlights, and a white box featuring an orange design.

The limited edition mooncake collection uses lacquer for box design, employing manual silk-screen printing to depict persimmon branches, symbolizing the Mid-autumn festival, which peaks by the end of this month. The box's interior is lined with black velvet, and its exterior features silver decorations.

Park Hyatt Saigon's mooncake box. Photo courtesy of Park Hyatt Saigon

A box features four flavors: coconut milk with salted egg, earl gray tea with Da Lat rose petals, lingzhi and cordyceps with slow-cooked chicken, and abalone and seafood. It also includes two tea boxes and one wine bottle. The limited set costs VND6.8 million ($285.50).

The collection offers two alternative sets: a white box set with four mooncakes and two tea boxes at VND2.25 million ($94.45), and a tea-less box set priced at VND1.65 million ($69.30).

The Reverie Saigon also presents a mooncake collection that comprises four crafted lacquer boxes that blend Western-style handcrafted mosaics. The box sets feature natural motifs such as flowers, moons, and peacock tail feathers.

The Reverie Saigon's mooncake boxes display Western-style mosaics. Photo courtesy of The Reverie Saigon

The collection includes flavors such as abalone fish fin, roasted chicken, lotus seeds, coconut milk, taro, green beans, tiramisu, and cheese dragon fruit.

Prices begin at VND2,488,000 for a 4-piece box set and VND5,888,000 for the "Prosperity Flow" box set, which contains 8 cakes with a bottle of champagne and a box of jasmine tea.

Suitcase box

Sheraton Saigon offers three mooncake box choices.The initial box features an embossed pattern on soft fabric in turquoise blue and coral orange layers. The second box resembles a suitcase with blue tones, embossed leather, and a gold-plated latch. The limited edition displays a moss green color, shiny leather, diamond embossing, and a sizable brass logo.

Sheraton Saigon offers three mooncake box sets. Photo courtesy of Sheraton Saigon Hotel & Towers

Sheraton's handcrafted mooncakes, made by in-house artisans, offer 8 filling choices encompassing mixed nuts, scallops with X.O sauce, white lotus seeds, pandan and lotus seeds, black sesame and white sesame, green tea, and cranberries. This year, the hotel introduces a new filling: Long Tinh tea, beloved by Chinese emperors of old for its sweet taste with undertones of roasted hazelnuts.

These mooncakes are available at prices ranging from VND1 million ($41.20) to VND2.8 million ($117.55) per box.

Gift box

Renaissance Riverside Hotel Saigon introduces a mooncake collection featuring three gift box designs.

The Harmony box depicts a rice field with flying cranes, symbolizing prosperity. The Fortune box displays a full moon, representing luck and rebirth. The Euphoria box, inspired by lanterns and hot air balloons, conveys freedom and dreams.

Renaissance Riverside Hotel Saigon mooncake collection comprises three boxes. Photo courtesy of Renaissance Riverside Hotel Saigon

The collection offers flavors such as lotus pandan, matcha green tea, char siu mixed nuts, and crab meat roasted with 8 ingredients.

The collection starts at VND1,290,000 ($54.15) per set.

Silk box

Lotte Saigon Hotel presents a mooncake box showcasing wood and silk adorned with peony illustrations. The mooncakes are put in golden containers, creating a visual contrast with the box's deep mallard hue.

Lotte Saigon Hotel's mooncake box is fashioned from wood and silk. Photo courtesy of Lotte Saigon Hotel

The mooncakes are available in four flavors: macadamia nut green tea, almond lotus seeds, roasted chicken, and abalone with fish fin.

Prices are set at VND1.35 million for a box with 4 cakes and 2 lotus tea boxes, and VND1.8 million ($75.60) for a box with an extra bottle of wine.

Heritage box

Caravelle Saigon presents its mooncake collection with two box options inspired by its history.

The Heritage Box uses red and moonlight tones, adorned with Caravelle building symbols, and contains six flavors. The Deluxe Box, with similar color tones but a rectangular shape, contains four cake flavors.

The two sets of Caravelle Saigon mooncake boxes. Photo courtesy of Caravelle Saigon

The flavors include options like mixed nuts, green tea lotus seeds, red bean, roasted chicken with X.O sauce and seafood Hong Kong sauce, and cappuccino.

The Heritage Box is priced at VND1,790,000 ($75.15) and the Deluxe Box at VND1,290,000 ($54.15).

Cabinet box

RuNam offers a wide variety of mooncake boxes and one highlight is a box transformed into a stage cabinet, reflecting Indochine-style aesthetics with a blend of French and Asian architecture.

When opened, the cabinet reveals a scene of family gathering in a garden with lanterns and a mooncake stray. RuNam also provides other packaging options like a pop-up art box, a lantern-style box, and traditional sets with 4 or 6 cakes.

RuNam's cabinet box reveals a depiction of a family. Photo courtesy of RuNam

RuNam offers mooncakes with traditional flavors like pandan, coconut, coffee, and black sesame, and contemporary choices such as pomelo blossom, magenta plant, and butterfly pea.

The cabinet set can be purchased for VND3.2 million ($134.30), while the alternative set begins at VND550,000 ($23.10).

Lily box

The Vagabond Pâtisserie's mooncake box draws inspiration from red spider lilies, reflecting full moon imagery in Southeast Asian cultures. The mooncakes boast a black crust adorned with 24K gold, representing the full moon against the mid-autumn sky. This deep black hue is achieved using bamboo charcoal.

Black and gold are the primary colors of The Vagabond Pâtisserie's mooncake boxes. Photo courtesy of The Vagabond Pâtisserie & Café

Among the flavors are combinations of pistachios and cherries, durian paired with red peanut praline, oolong and strawberry tea, as well as mixed seafood with spicy sauce.

The 10-piece box set is priced at VND2,260,000 ($94.90) and the 4-piece box set is priced at VND780,000 ($32.75).

Shape-shifting box

This year, Bakes presents a mooncake collection that comprises four flavors: Iberico broken rice, coconut sticky rice, Ispahanmacaron with rose, raspberry and lychee paste, and Praliné egg custard, each presented in an individual tin can.

Bakes' mooncake boxes feature vibrant colors. Photo courtesy of Bakes

There's a Bloom Moonbox set that changes from crescent to full moon shape, in addition to the standard rectangular box set. The box set starts at VND720,000 ($30.20), and a single cake is priced at VND195,000 ($8.20).

Chocolate box

Maison Marou presents a handcrafted mooncake collection that combines local farm ingredients with its signature dark chocolate. The mooncakes are offered in single, 4-piece, and 9-piece box sets.

Maison Marou's mooncake box sets boast vibrant colors. Photo courtesy of Maison Marou

The mooncake collection features a core chocolate flavor, complemented by variations such as peanut praline, strawberry, kumquat jam, and coco coffee.

The box set begins at VND690,000 ($29), while a single cake is priced at VND180,000 ($7.55).