Like Mom's sweet potato and green tea muffins, dense in texture and delicate in taste. A multitude of house-made cookies is sold here, with flavors like cinnamon and poppy seed. Patbingsu, a summer snack of shaved ice topped with plenty of sweetened azuki beans, evocative of Malaysian ais kacang (though patriotism compels us to say we prefer the latter). Like Mom's proprietors are proud of their coffee; one sip makes it clear why. Only caveat: Like Mom is closed during dinnertime ...

Namoo's sweeping selection includes a mousse-like sweet pumpkin and tofu cake that might be the least sinful, most natural-tasting cake we've tasted this year. Carb attack! Yaksik, steamed glutinous rice, seasoned with brown sugar and mixed with chestnuts and pine nuts. Traditionally eaten at Korean weddings and festivals, but available all year round at Namoo. Yang Geng, jelly-like tidbits with flavors reminiscent of beans. Or of nature or something. Yakgwa, sweet, crunchy biscuits made of honey, sesame and wheat flour. Getting hot and heavy: Mat-tang, an addictive ensemble of honey-glazed sweet potato, pumpkin and nuts. Steaming, starchy and sugary; we can't stop snacking! Beverages, an acquired taste: sweet potato latte and rice wine yogurt cocktail. Cutesy touches for a cute cafe.

Worth visiting to satisfy the sweet tooth: Tropicana City Mall's Pastry Culture. Our fave: dark choc cake with raisins dipped in Bacardi rum for super sumptuousness. Pastry Culture's other varieties, including the Scotch whiskey dark chocolate and Irish cream mint choc, seem to have a lower liquor content. Still, creamy and tasty enough to recommend for a post-dinner pick-me-up.

Having your cakes and eating 'em isn't too tough: head to Mandarin Oriental for this year's batch of mooncakes. Mandarin Oriental might be the earliest of KL's hotels to be selling mooncakes for 2012, with a special counter set up for these tiny treats at its lobby through Sept. 30. MO's signature selection comprises chocolate and snowskin varieties, exquisitely executed. 2012's newbies include an ultra-creamy dark chocolate concoction filled with star anise and red bean ganache, tasting like the most luxurious candy bar ever. Also introduced this year: white chocolate with orange ganache and jam. But mooncakes aren't immune to inflation: MO's chocolate ones cost RM20+, a RM2 hike from 2011's set. Fresh, natural-tasting flavors form the foundation for 2012's snowskin selection: choose either pandan or blueberry with grated coconut, both evoking a Malay kuih feel (perfect for Ramadan!). RM14+ each (also up by RM2), small enough to finish within four mouthfuls. Mooncakes can be eaten at MO's lobby lounge with unique cocktails like the Malay Mojito (tinged with gula melaka palm sugar) and the Guava Cosmopolitan.
Early birds enjoy a 10 percent discount off the regular mooncake price.

Patrons of Nanyang Authentic can't chicken out of pigging out. Familiar fare is featured in fulfilling fashion at Pavilion's latest Chinese eatery; streaked with a surplus of sweet-savory succulence, the honey-barbecued pork strives to satisfy. Organic kampung chicken, RM28+ for a slickly glossy quarter-bird. Fowl rarely tastes finer. Side dishes shine here; every pleasurably oily grain of the chicken rice and each meaty mouthful of the pork-cuttlefish balls made us contemplate having Chinese food more often. Soju, as well as both Chinese and Western wines, are available by the bottle.