Marina Mandarin Singapore’s Peach Blossoms rolls out 4 varieties of rice dumplings that flaunt the kitchen’s adeptness in both traditional and modern aspects. Continue reading →

Sheraton Towers Singapore Hotel’s Li Bai Cantonese Restaurant pushes the boundaries further this Dragon Boat Festival, presenting the new and outlandish Steamed Beef Knee and Kidney Bean Rice Dumpling that will pique the interest of adventurous eaters. Continue reading →

To be honest, I never knew what Dragon Boat Festival was about, except for the fact that it involves the consumption (and to my late grandma, the handcrafting) of rice dumplings. I am slowly but surely touching base with traditions, re-engaging what used to be trivial to me but significant to my grandparents and forefathers.

Dragon Boat Festival marks the day of commemorating the sacrifice of a legendary Chinese poet who drowned himself in Mi Lo River, millenniums ago, to protest against corrupted rulers. Out of respect, rice dumplings were thrown into the river to provide food for the fish and preventing them from feeding on the poet’s body. Since then, Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated on the fifth day of very fifth lunar month of the Chinese calendar (which falls on 2nd June this year).

Today, rice dumplings have become a delicacy, available in a myriad of flavours –some of which are inventive and unorthodox creations never seen before, some of which remain true to traditions.

Royal Pavilion debuts its first-ever series of dumplings this Dragon Boat Festival –one of which you must not miss is the “Lao Gan Tie” Mushroom Dried Shrimp Dumpling ($9.80+) made with Royal Pavilion’s famed “Lao Gan Tie” sauce. Continue reading →