Over the last ten years, the wave of new mainland Chinese restaurants, often showcasing hitherto unknown (to London) regional cuisines, has been an utter delight, and among these the dumplings from the North Eastern port city of Dailan that are the central offer of Xi Home Dumplings Bay are a particular favourite. And if you have not tried their dumpling making classes then what else pressing have you been up to?
Wonderfully, the team at Xi Home Dumplings Bay is celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival by bringing the tradition of the large sharing mooncake to London with a handmade 6-inch mooncake designed to be cut at the table and shared with friends and family.
Weighing 500g, the mooncake is made entirely by hand in Xi Home’s London kitchen and will be available in a limited release of just 60 – 80 boxes. Customers can choose two of three flavours – Pineapple, Salted Egg Yolk and Pork Floss or Ube and Taro – with two mooncakes per gift box, priced at £38.80.
The large sharing format reflects the meaning of Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls on 25 September 2026. The round moon and round cake symbolise reunion, traditionally marked by cutting a single mooncake into wedges for everyone at the table to share. In Chinese, the word for reunion, tuányuán (團圓), even contains the character for round.
For Xi Home founder Wenjun Xiang, the large format is a deliberate return to the tradition she grew up with in north-eastern China, where mooncakes are more often made large and shared at the table. ‘Where I grew up, the mooncake was large and someone cut it. That is the part I wanted to bring back,” says Xiang. “A box of small ones is convenient, but nobody shares it – everybody just takes theirs and eats it alone.’
The mooncakes are made to order via Xi Home’s website and can be picked up at the Blossom Street branch near Liverpool Street Station.
10 Blossom Street
London, E1 6PL
Hours Monday – Sunday 8.30 am – 10.00 pm
43 Chandos Place
Convent Garden, WC2N 4HS
Hours Monday – Sunday 12 am – 10.30 pm
399 Edgware Road
London, NW9 0FH
Hours Monday – Thursday 11.30 am – 9.30 pm and Friday – Sunday11.30 am – 10 pm
david@greencastlemediagroup.com
