Ha Noi has many moon cake bakeries; each one has its own secret recipe to attract customers. A village in Ha Noi has a long history of making moon cake; Xuan Dinh village, now called Xuan Tao ward, Bac Tu Liem district.
According Vice Chairman of Xuan Tao ward People’s Committee, Nguyen Duy Tuan, the ward had around 70 households running moon cake bakeries, but now just 30 of them are still baking.
Each year when the Mid-Autumn Festival comes, a large number of moon cakes are made in the village and then brought to the market.
One the most famous bakeries in the village is Do The Gia shop, founded by Do Manh The, the fourth descendants of Do family. Do family started their confectionary business in 1902 and launched two shops in Hang Duong and Hang Vai streets in Ha Noi’s Old Quarter by Do Nang Dien, alias Ly Dien.
In The’s opinion, the decisive factor in making a quality a moon cake is the preparation of the ingredients. High quality and well-processed ingredients help to make a high quality cake.
He is proud to say that all of the ingredients for moon cake in his bakery are totally processed by hand. As his bakery has around 20 employees, The strictly and directly inspects every step of the making procedure to ensure the steps are done in the right way.
The always bears in mind his father’s lessons which taught him that a baker should make his cakes with all of his heart so that customers will remember the distinct flavour in his products.
In recent years, although many moon cake bakeries have tried to created many different styles of their products by replacing traditional fillings with new ingrdients, such as; taro, black beans, taro, salangane bird nest, shark fins or even chocolate; a large number of customers still choose to buy traditional flavoured moon cakes, which are made from natural ingredients with all of the heart of the bakers like The.