Dragon boat dumplings available for sale at Sheraton Saigon’s Li Bai restaurant. — VNS Photo

Sheraton Saigon Hotel & Towers is introducing premium dragon boat dumplings with beautifully designed packaging as gifts for families, friends and loved ones to celebrate Tet Doan Ngo.

Tet Doan Ngo, or the Dragon Boat Festival, falls on June 3 this year.

Dragon boat dumpling, also known as Zongzi, is a classic food associated with the festival, especially among the Chinese-origin community in Vietnam.

The original version has a bold taste with cooked glutinous rice and peanut stuffed with seasoned pork belly, salted fried shrimp, fatty Chinese sausage and egg yolk, fresh shiitake mushroom, and nutty lotus seeds. Steamed in boiling water with bamboo leaves, the dumplings carry a delicate, appetising aroma.

For this special occasion, the hotel’s Li Bai restaurant is introducing premium versions of the dragon boat dumplings handcrafted skilled chefs with over 40 years of experience.

In addition to the traditional filling options such as pork belly and chicken with signature black pepper sauce, the restaurant has gotten creative with a brace of premium fillings including dried scallop and succulent abalone, two highly nutritional delicacies in Cantonese cuisine.

For vegetarians, a mushroom option with assorted nuts awaits to satiate.

The dumplings are priced at VND138,000++ /piece for vegetarian filling; VND188,000++/piece for dried scallop, pork belly and chicken with black pepper sauce filling and VND 388,000++/piece for premium abalone filling.

They are on sale till June 3. Guests can visit the hotel lobby or the Li Bai restaurant to taste and buy the special delicacies.

Li Bai is located on Level 2 of Sheraton Saigon Hotel at 80 Dong Du Street in HCM City’s District 1. For more details or bookings, contact: 028 3827 2828, or email sheratonsaigon@sheraton.com. — VNS