Bak chang season is upon us again and like true love, we at the Michelin Guide Singapore believe that there is a dumpling out there for everyone. Whether you have a hankering for the exotic or you’re in for good ol’ mama’s cooking, swipe right - erm, we mean, downwards - to find the best dumpling to suit your palate.
You care deeply about the people who make your food, and you know your Cinco Jotas from your Joselito. You are on a first-name basis with your butcher (yes, you have a regular butcher) and your idea of a great weekend is one spent perfecting your sio bak technique at home. You’ve dined in lavish Michelin-starred restaurants around the world, but the best chef, in your eyes, will always be Grandma.
Your dumpling match: Berkshire Pork dumpling from Osia Steak & Seafood Grill
Osia’s Berkshire pork dumpling is made from premium Byron Bay Berkshire Pork (the Continental equivalent of Japanese kurobuta pork), exclusively sourced from a boutique farm in Australia and steeped in spicy-sweet flavours thanks to a hand-me-down five spice recipe from head chef Douglas Tay’s grandmother. A real treat for meat lovers.
You know the names of all the staff at Salad Stop and Supernature, where you are a permanent fixture post-yoga class, stocking up on kale and good karma. The health of the environment matters to you as much as your own, and you’re already on the waitlist for a Tesla Model 3. You know how to make your own almond milk (doesn’t everyone?) and you have a favourite brand of tofu. You glow with an otherworldly aura of wellness, and you really, really love animals.
Your dumpling match: Organic barley and quinoa dumpling from Tangerine
Made of organic barley and quinoa, this savoury vegetarian dumpling from Thai chef Ian Kittichai's Tangerine restaurant has zero trans-fat and cholesterol, and is a good source of molybdenum, manganese, dietary fibre and selenium. Barley and quinoa has known benefits to counter heart disease as it stimulates body to produce bile by breaking down cholesterol and lowering cholesterol levels.
Molecular what? You’re an old soul when it comes to food - and an Asian one at that. When it comes to a celebratory feast, you can do without mounds of meat, but you cannot give up on your classic seafood delicacies. And the best ones, to you, are done the way the skilled Cantonese sifus of the kitchen have always known how: meticulously simmered for hours under watchful eyes to bring out their full flavour and nutritional value.
Your dumpling match: Sea Whelk, Dried Oyster and Unagi dumpling from Forest
Typically used in Cantonese soups for their intense flavours and nutritional value, sea whelks and dried oysters take on delicious starring roles in Forest’s seafood-stuffed dumpling. The robust flavours of the sea are further enhanced by the smoky sweetness of Japanese eel.
You took a day off work just to queue up for the opening of the Hello Kitty cafe at the Changi Airport (because “a friend” wanted to go) and you can go on for hours about the finer differences between Hakata-style and Sapporo-style ramen. Your friends know you for the Royce chocolates and Tokyo Banana cakes you generously schlep home on your thrice yearly trips to Japan, and you have a weak spot for anything sakura. Sugoiii!
Your dumpling match: Ohagi dumpling from Syun
Ohagi is a Japanese glutinous rice sweet treat traditionally served in autumn. Like its traditional counterpart, Syun’s version is first soaked for six hours prior to cooking to give it a firm, chewy texture. The cooked rice is then shaped, and layered with a generous helping of sweet azuki bean paste. Best consumed chilled.
The world is your oyster, or more specifically, your wet market. The only fish you eat are wild-caught and you spent your last seaside holiday diving for abalone and scallops. You’d book a flight just to eat in Noma, and you have (twice). When you’re not buried in the dried food section of Mustafa browsing racks of exotic Peruvian corn, you’re out foraging for herbs in the lush foliage of Dempsey and Ann Siang Hill, which you will later fashion into a cocktail using craft spirits distilled from heirloom grain.
Your dumpling match: Wild abalone in 5 Grains dumpling from Feng Shui Inn
Luxurious and healthy at the same time, soybeans, wheat, broomcorn, foxtail millet and rice are wrapped around a succulent and flavourful 10-head whole Australian abalone harvested from the wild. Best savoured with Feng Shui Inn head chef Li Kwok Kwong’s homemade superior soya sauce.
For dumpling season this year, five of the Resorts World Sentosa’s restaurants have come together to present a unique Dumpling Festival Package that comprises five distinctive dumplings, each bearing the restaurant’s unique concept and signature style.
Served in a three-tiered bamboo steamer ready for steaming, each Dumpling Festival package is available at S$78 nett. Pre-order from now till 6 June 2016 for collection between 26 May to 9 June 2016. Call 6577 6599 or email FengShuiInn@RWSentosa.com
