The Dragon Boat’s Festival falls on the 5th day of the 5th month of the year in the Chinese calendar. There are various stories and legends surrounding the origins of this festival, but we all celebrate it in one way – by eating rice dumplings, traditional Chinese dish made my putting various ingredients together and wrapping it up in bamboo or lotus leaves before steaming or boiling.
If you have yet to decide where you are going to get your rice dumpling fix this Dragon Boat Festival, we have put together a list of F&B chains which have put out some interesting rice dumplings this year.
1. Hong Kong Sheng Kee Dessert
Choose from their range of three special flavours – Premium Ham & Scallop Rice Dumpling, Black Glutinous Rice Dumpling and Pork Belly Rice Dumpling. Prices range from $6.90 to $12.90, which is extremely affordable considering the size of a dumpling. Each dumpling is packed with a good amount of fillings and can be shared among 2-3 pax.
The simple HK Glutinous Rice Dumpling ($6.50) is a good choice and definitely delicious but if you are in a mood for indulging or looking for an impressive version to gift, go for the Premium Ham and Scallop Rice Dumpling which consists of premium ingredients like Dried Scallop, XO Chinese sausage and Jinhua Ham.
We also recommend getting their new sweet Hong Kong Fresh Milk Bubble Tea to go along with the savoury dumplings.
2. Din Tai Fung
Din Tai Fung has launched an impressive Rice Dumpling with Flavoured Pork – it uses top-grade glutinous rice flavoured with premium soya sauce and pork belly that is marinated in a mixture of 15 types of spices and condiments. That sounds delicious already!
You also get a complimentary 50g packet of Golden Oolong Loose Tea Leaves worth $6.80 when you purchase 2 frozen Rice Dumplings with Flavoured Pork ($5.80 per piece).
Photo credit: Crystal Jade Restaurant
3. Crystal Jade
Apart from the classic Five-Spice Marinated Pork Rice Dumpling ($7.80), Crystal Jade has also launched a few new flavours. For those looking for a healthy version, Crystal Jade has just the right thing for you – their Eight Treasures Quinoa Rice Dumpling ($6.80) is a vegetarian one packed with lots of flavour using ingredients like dried mushrooms and preserved radish.
Another interesting one is the Spicy Dried Shrimp “Hei Bi Hiam” Rice Dumpling ($8.80) which is expected to be a hot favourite – imagine diced chicken tossed in a generous amount of homemade spicy dried shrimp paste made with Indonesian dried red shrimp and Hokkaido dried scallop as well as other choice ingredients.
Photo credit: Hai Tien Lo
4. Hai Tien Lo
Hai Tien Lo at Pan Pacific Singapore have gift sets of great value which you can check out if you are planning to send some to your loved ones. They also have a good variety so you can pick your favourites – Cantonese style, Nyonya style or the classic ones.
The newest addition is the Grain Dumpling with Cordyceps Flowers ($8.80) which is a vegetarian dumpling consisting of multiple grain like barley, black sesame and corn. They are having a great promotion where you can have a 25% discount off when you use the promo code TAKEAWAY25 so make sure not to miss that out!
Photo credit: Peach Blossoms
5. Peach Blossoms
If you are looking for rice dumplings that impress, Peach Blossoms’ will hit your expectations. Their Premium XO Cantonese rice dumpling ($36.80) has dream fillings like abalone, Kurobuta Pork Belly, dried oyster and dried scallop. It comes with a heavier price tag as well but given its size and quality ingredients, we are sure you will find it well worth the price as it serves up to 4 pax.
We also have to give it to them for their creativity in coming up with the Hokkaido Sweet Potato “Lava” Dumpling ($16.80). The beautiful light blue and white rice dumpling unveils sweet custard of purple and orange Hokkaido sweet potato when cut open.
They have the perfect bundle inclusive of both sweet and savoury dumplings which is a much cheaper options compared to getting each flavour on their own. Use the code PEACHBLOSSOM25 for a generous 25% off when you place a minimum order of $50.
