Pancit Palabok

Luzon, Philippines (Chinese-Filipino tradition)

Pancit palabok is one of the Philippines' most distinct noodle preparations — thin rice vermicelli noodles blanketed in a shrimp-based annatto sauce and topped with an elaborate array of garnishes: crushed chicharon, hard-boiled egg, tinapa (smoked fish) flakes, toasted garlic, green onion, calamansi, and fresh shrimp. Unlike pancit canton (stir-fried), palabok is an assembly dish: the noodles are pre-cooked, the sauce is made separately, and the garnishes are arranged on top. The sauce is the technical challenge: a thick, golden-orange sauce of shrimp broth, annatto, fish sauce, and cornstarch that should coat each noodle strand completely and flow slowly from the spoon. The flavour is the combination of the shrimp sauce's sweetness, the smoked fish's depth, and the chicharon's crunch.

• Shares the assembled-noodle-with-elaborate-garnish structure with Vietnamese bún bò Huế and Thai khao soi; the shrimp-broth sauce mirrors Malaysian laksa; the chicharon garnish connects to Mexican tlayuda toppings in its use of fried pork skin as textural contrast.

Calamansi squeezed at the table brightens the shrimp sauce; patis (fish sauce) for additional umami; the combination of soft noodle, rich sauce, smoky fish, and crunchy pork skin is deliberately complex.