A lot of people who enter “Palabok” as their search criteria in Google usually end up in our site. Most of them, I expect, would be looking for a recipe for this famous Filipino dish but would instead be greeted by a site that carries the name but has no recipe of it in sight. There may also be people who know us personally but may not be familiar with the name or the dish.

Palabok is a noodle dish that has a variety of ingredients like garlic, onion, meat, seafood and hard-boiled eggs among others. It is served with a thick orange sauce achieved by using annatto seeds during preparation. In recent years, the word palabok has entered Filipino slang to also mean beating around the bush. How a popular dish came to be associated with a manner of speaking is beyond me. My guess would be that having to talk about things indirectly may cause a speaker to hint at his meaning in very creative and long-winding ways, thus the conversation could have as many ingredients as a Palabok and be as long as the noodles used in it. But I speculate.

If you’re after the recipe, there are numerous cooking sites that offer their own versions. Examples of that here and here.

Why name this site Palabok? Well, we wanted a short domain name, easy enough to remember even for non-Filipinos and yet still have a distinct Filipino flavour/feel. There’s also the the consideration that we want to be able to discuss a variety of topics, much like the variety of ingredients found in a plate of palabok so we thought the name a good fit. Hope you enjoyed your serving of palabok trivia today!