While hotels try to outdo themselves with fancier than ever bak chang offerings in anticipation of the rice dumpling festival on 25 June, our favourite kind to eat remains those that are no-frills and taste homespun. Here’s a list of five we’ve tried, from both hotels and a home-based cook.

Peach Blossoms, Parkroyal Collection; feeds one to two pax

Cantonese Restaurant Peach Blossom’s best-selling dumpling (pictured on the extreme right) is ironically Hakka, albeit an atas version. It’s packed with Iberico pork belly, Japanese flower mushroom, dried shrimp, chestnut, salted egg yolk and fermented bean curd. Flavourful if a tad too salty from the fermented beans. We prefer the dessert-style Hokkaido Sweet Potato “Lava” Rice Dumpling ($16.80; feeds one pax). It features indigo glutinous rice dyed with butterfly pea flowers and lovely purple Hokkaido sweet potato custard filling that oozes out when warm.

Available till Jun 25 via parkroyalcollectionmarinabay.oddle.me . Tel: 6845-1118. Apply discount code PEACHBLOSSOMS25 for 25% savings with a minimum spend of $50 after discount.

Photo: Parkroyal Collection

FlouRice, feeds one pax

Aside from burnt cheesecakes, this home-based baker also makes traditional rice dumplings. The recipe by her Hokkien granddad dates back to 1965 and is now made meticulously by the “property agent and investor” who started her food business during the Circuit Breaker. The rustic palm-sized pyramids are packed with brown soy-infused rice that’s quite tasty on its own. They're stuffed with pork belly, moist salted egg yolk, shiitake mushrooms, dried shrimp and creamy chestnuts cooked with light soy sauce, dark sauce and other “secret ingredients”. We like our bak chang simple, home-style, flavour-packed and crammed with more filling than rice. This one ticks all the boxes.

Order via email at order [at] flourice.com.sg or Whatsapp 8112-1565.

Photo: FlouRice

Shang Palace, Shangri-La Hotel; feeds one pax

A beautiful dual-coloured dumpling, with half the glutinous rice stained blue with the juice of butterfly pea flowers. Burrowed within: soy and five-spice-marinated minced pork, salted egg yolk, mushroom and chestnut — all sweetened with candied winter melon, as per the nonya way. Pleasantly sweet, savoury and very pretty. Good for gifting.

Available till Jun 25 via www.bit.ly/slsdumplings2020 with 20% discount off all online orders. Tel: 6213-4398.

Photo: Shangri-La Hotel Singapore

Wan Hao Chinese Restaurant, Singapore Marriott Tang Plaza Hotel; feeds two pax

This decadent dumpling is stuffed with crustacean instead of the usual pork filling. Indonesian mud crab is cooked with white pepper, garlic, oyster sauce, spring onions, sea salt and caramel. The springy crabmeat, when we manage to pick out some, is indeed peppery and umami. Goes quite well with the juicy shimeji mushrooms. However, the dumpling is mostly crowded with too many starchy, distracting black-eyed peas.

Available till Jun 25 via www.singaporemarriott.com/dining. Tel: 6831-4605. Enjoy 20% discount with a minimum purchase of four dumplings.

Photo: Singapore Marriott Tang Plaza Hotel

Resorts World Sentosa, feeds four pax

The annual dumpling feast set from Resorts World Sentosa features a medley of five dumplings from various restaurants. If you have a sweet tooth, this Kampong Braised Sweet Gula Melaka Dumpling with Red, Purple and White Glutinous Rice by Malaysian Food Street is worth a try. It’s generously stuffed with grated coconut, along with lotus seeds and mung beans sweetened with gula melaka. Lemak and not too sugary. Think a hybrid between kueh dadar and kuih lopes.

Another worthy mention in the set is the Sawara, Takenoko and Yuzu Chimaki Dumpling by Japanese restaurant Syun (bottom in pic). The petite munchkin stars Spanish mackerel caught off the coast of Japan, together with bamboo shoots and yuzu zest-scented, refreshing glutinous rice. The dumplings come in a nifty three-tiered bamboo steamer.

Available till Jun 25 via www.rwsentosa.com/dumplingfeast. Tel: 8140-7228.

Photo: Resorts World Sentosa Singapore