The Dragon Boat Festival arrives on 31 May 2025, ushering in bak zhang season—glutinous rice dumplings steeped in Chinese tradition and enjoyed across global communities. Whether you seek time-honoured recipes or local twists like chicken satay, here’s where to find the best in Singapore.
What is a bak zhang?
A rice dumpling is a snack consisting of glutinous rice shaped around a meat and vegetable filling, wrapped in bamboo leaves, and either steamed or boiled. Its Hokkien term – bak zhang or bak chang – is common in Singapore, and it is known as zongzi in China.
While bak zhang is eaten throughout the year, it’s most associated with the Dragon Boat Festival. According to legend, when the beloved Chinese poet Qu Yuan attempted to commit suicide by jumping into the river, people threw rice dumplings into the water to distract the fish from attacking him.
Bak zhang comes in many guises thanks to the diverse ethic Chinese groups in Singapore. The Hokkien favour stuffing it with pork belly and chestnuts. For the Teochew, pork and red bean result in a sweet-savoury style. Pick up a Cantonese zongzi, and it will most likely have lap cheong (Chinese sausage) and mung bean. Local varieties have also developed, like the Nyonya bak zhang with butterfly pea flower rice and kee zhang made with alkalised glutinous rice.
Where to find rice dumplings in Singapore?
Two names often come to mind when talking about bak zhang in Singapore. Joo Chiat Kim Choo makes them according to an 80-year-old recipe that calls for 22 ingredients. Another is Thye Moh Chan, a traditional Teochew bakery that adds rice dumplings to its repertoire during the Dragon Boat Festival.
Other places in Singapore are dressing up bak zhang for the modern diner. The Fullerton Hotel has a chicken satay flavour, down to the peanut sauce. Shang Palace chef Daniel Cheung turns to his childhood for a fermented red beancurd and pork belly rice dumpling, and Hai Tien Lo gets inspired by orh nee. Check them out below.
(Hero and featured images credits: Paradise Group; Thye Moh Chan)
Where to get the best bak zhang in Singapore this Dragon Boat Festival 2025
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Dian Xiao Er’s traditional salty pork dumpling features braised pork belly, chestnut, and mushrooms packed around a salted egg yolk, and the Nyonya pork dumpling uses a spice paste to make bak zhang more fragrant. While not exactly a rice dumpling, the matcha red bean mousse (S$2.60) sees the dessert wrapped in mochi resembling bamboo leaves.
From S$8.10 each
29 April – 31 May 2025
(Image credit: Dian Xiao Er)
2 /12
Xiao long bao gets all the spotlight at Din Tai Fung, but the red bean rice dumplings have been a perennial favourite. Perhaps it’s the simplicity of pearl glutinous rice and velvety red bean paste wrapped in bamboo leaves. Maybe because they are aromatic and gently sweet. Fortunately, they are available year-round.
S$8.80 each
Available year-round
(Image credit: Din Tai Fung)
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Goodwood Park Hotel is already renowned for its durian pastries, and they are adding them to rice dumplings for the Dragon Boat Festival 2025. The mini kee zhang is best served warm with the accompanying D24 durian dip, while more traditional flavours come in the form of the new dried oyster and pork rice dumpling and Cantonese-style rice dumpling. The zhang are available in takeaway sets and for dine-in at Min Jiang and Min Jiang Dempsey.
From S$12 per set
1 – 31 May 2025
(Image credit: Goodwood Park Hotel)
4 /12
Hai Tien Lo turns traditional desserts into zhang for Dragon Boat Festival 2025, resulting in the black glutinous Nyonya rice dumpling based on pulut hitam and the orh nee-inspired Teochew rice dumpling with yam paste, chestnut, ginkgo nuts, and coconut milk. For savoury flavours, the Supreme Rice Dumpling brims with pork belly, whole abalone, roasted duck, and dried scallops, while the salted fish and preserved meat rice dumpling showcases Spanish pork.
From S$15 each
1 – 31 May 2025
(Image credit: Pan Pacific Singapore)
5 /12
To make the Emperor’s Rice Dumpling, Joo Chiat Kim Choo works off an 80-year-old recipe calling for 22 ingredients and spices, then adds braised pork belly, dried scallops, lap cheong, salted egg yolk, chestnut, ginkgo nuts, and shiitake mushrooms. Other bak zhang for Dragon Boat Festival 2025 include the Five Royal Stars Gift Set, which pays tribute to Singapore’s largest Chinese ethic groups with Nyonya, Cantonese, Hakka, Teochew, and Hokkien varieties. Get them at Joo Chiat Kim Choo’s headquarters and flagship store, as well as over 20 pop-up stores across the island and online.
From S$3.50 each
15 April – 1 June 2025
(Image credit: Joo Chiat Kim Choo)
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Paradise Group takes inspiration from classic Chinese dishes for its Cantonese rice dumplings, like roasted Iberico pork with XO sauce and braised pork belly with preserved mustard greens (mui choy). The restaurant chain also brings back crowd favourites for Dragon Boat Festival 2025, from abalone with salted pork belly brown rice dumpling to osmanthus gula melaka red bean paste kee zhang.
From S$7.80 each
28 April – 30 May 2025
(Image credit: Paradise Group)
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Savoury zhang in RWS’s Dragon Boat Festival 2025 lineup include the dried seafood steamed dumpling with abalone, dried scallops, and shrimp, as well as the Yunnan wild mushrooms and fish maw dumpling. For something sweet, the trio date sweet dumpling is a vegetarian combination of jujube, honey dates, and red dates. All three dumplings are
S$128 per set
Now until 31 May 2025
(Image credit: Resorts World Sentosa)
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Shang Palace’s new rice dumplings for Dragon Boat Festival 2025 spotlights the sweetened purple rice dumpling with homemade kaya, as well as fermented red beancurd with pork belly and peanut inspired by chef Daniel Cheung’s favourite childhood dish. They join two returning bestsellers: truffle pork belly with salted egg yolk and traditional Nyonya rice dumpling. The zhang is available individually and in gift sets.
From S$19.90 each
30 April – 31 May 2025
(Image credit: Shangri-La Singapore)
9 /12
Just in time for Dragon Boat Festival 2025 and Singapore’s 60th birthday, The Fullerton Hotel came up with the chicken satay rice dumpling featuring chicken thigh, king oyster mushroom, and peanuts, complemented by house-made peanut sauce. Other locally-inspired zhang include the red bean gula melaka rice dumpling, which sits alongside the traditional Hong Kong-style abalone treasures rice dumpling.
From S$16 each
10 – 31 May 2025
(Image credit: The Fullerton Hotel)
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For Dragon Boat Festival 2025, the Teochew pastry specialist is bringing back three flavours: the Double Delight with pork belly and mung bean paste, salted egg bak zhang, and the vegetarian mushroom zhang. The rice dumplings are available individually and in bundles of six or ten at selected Breadtalk, Toast Box, and Thye Moh Chan stores, as well as online through Grabfood, Foodpanda, and Deliveroo.
From S$7.50 each
Now until 31 May 2025
(Image credit: Thye Moh Chan)
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Acclaimed chef Jereme Leung wants you to smear kaya on its lemongrass kee zhang, which comes bundled with the Raffles Hotel’s signature spread. Another new flavour for Dragon Boat Festival 2025 includes the braised pork belly and yam glutinous rice dumpling, which joins the returning steamed abalone and eight treasure glutinous rice dumpling with salted egg yolk. The dumplings are available online and for dine-in at the restaurant.
From S$22 each
1 – 31 May 2025
(Image credit: Raffles Hotel Singapore)
12 /12
Wah Lok marks Dragon Boat Festival 2025 with the new dried oyster and conpoy rice dumpling. Made only when ordered, the bak zhang packs smoked duck and Japanese dried scallop with crunchy chestnuts and lotus seeds, with mung beans, shiitake mushrooms, salted egg yolk, and premium glutinous rice adding to its umami and subtly sweet flavour.
S$28.80 each (600g)
13 – 31 May 2025
(Image credit: Carlton Hotel Singapore)
