There does seem to have been an influx of establishments serving up Filipino cuisine popping up all across the island recently; whilst the former tenant of the same stall that we are going to mention about was also used to be one that served up Filipino cuisine, the new tenant taking over the said stall serves the same as well. Located at Blk 932 Hougang Avenue 9 would be Second Serving Express; they had taken over the former premises of the now-defunct outlet of J&J Grill House within the Tastebud Eating House coffeeshop there. This would also be the same coffeeshop that houses other notable dining establishments like OK Chicken Rice & Humfull Laksa and Teenoy Thai Vegetarian. For those whom find the namesake Second Serving familiar; yes, this is a new concept from the same folks behind Second Serving that is located at Tai Seng Point — this is their very first Express concept that is run out of a coffeeshop stall. Second Serving is best known for serving up Filipino fare; the Second Serving Express location at Hougang serves up a more condensed menu of main dishes featuring rice sets, noodle dishes and snacks — they also do serve up their signature Taho offering here as well.

Considering how we have tried a number of Filipino soups and meat dishes in the past, we found ourselves gravitating towards the Palabok — a Filipino dish that we have yet to give a go during our various visits to several Filipino establishments around the island. Second Serving Express describes the Palabok as “Specialty Seafood Noodles”. Palabok is a dish that is known to come with elements such as that of prawn stock, pork bone broth and onions / shallots / garlic — the orange hue of the starchy gravy coming from the use of Annatto seeds. The gravy does come with a thick and starchy consistency that is rather similar to that of Mee Rebus / Mee Jawa / Pasembur; giving everything in the dish a mix, the gravy does come with a slight savouriness with particularly distinct but balanced notes coming from both the shallots and the prawn stock. The noodles that come alongside with the Palabok would be that of thick rice vermicelli that is rather similar to the ones that comes default with our local renditions of Laksa; slurpy and smooth. Addition of crispy pork lard does add another dimension of crunch to the dish, while the inclusion of prawns seem to compliment that of the gravy with its natural sweetness; the hard-boiled egg being an add-on that made everything seem a little bit more wholesome. Squeezing the lime does add a zing and tang to the entire dish — cuts through the savoury flavours of the gravy quite a fair bit which makes it an easier eat overall.