Recently, I was wanting some Sisig….so I naturally thought of one of my favorites when it came to that dish. Which I hadn’t been to in a while. But then….I thought I should try someplace I hadn’t been to before and Lumpia House came to mind. I’m trying to remember who mentioned the place to me. I think it was Calvin, but am not sure. II also wasn’t too sure about the drive….which looked to take over 30 minutes…..on a Saturday. Still, the place opens at 10, so I decided to make the drive up. The shop is in a very low keyed strip mall off of Poway Road right next to a location of Su Pan….the parking lot is pretty small, but heck, this was 10 on a Saturday so there were no parking issues.
Walking in and taking a look around made me smile. This really looked like a typical, humble turo-turo shop….
Snacks stacked about, trays of food coming out of the back kitchen…..
Their “signature” lumpia under the heat lamps…..
Nothing hipster about this place….that’s for sure!
I got a two item combo ($16.99)…of course with Sisig….but they also had a version of Tokwat Lechon – basically lechon with stir fried tofu that I don’t see around much; so I got that as well. And because this place is named Lumpia House – I got 6 meat lumpia ($1.15/each).
Man, this was a lot of food! Enough for two meals….one of which was for both the Missus and I!
So, how was it? Well, let’s start with the not so good….the rice was terrible, some parts hard, other parts super mushy…photos don’t lie; check this out. It was almost like porridge!
As for the Sisig? Well, it was a bit different as it had a good amount of red and green bell peppers, which I kind of enjoyed in terms of texture and a hint of vegetal and sweetness.
I enjoyed the texture of the lechon; some nice crisp pieces, good porkiness……enjoyed the pugent-sweetness of the onions. It had adequate sweetness, but was really lacking in terms of spiciness. In fact, when heating up, which it did adequately I added in a couple of chili de arbol from our garden which really enhanced things. Still, this was pretty good for turo-turo sisig.
As for the dish that was like Tokwat Lechon….well the tofu had kept shape nicely throughout the cooking process. The pork skin was quite crunchy and I used the air fryer to heat which restored the texture.
The weak point was the flavor…which was bland overall and the sauce was really watery and thin. I had expected good soy sauce, perhaps a hint of sweetness, savory tones….but this was watered down soy sauce.
And then there was the lumpia. I guess lumpia is going for a buck or more a piece these days?
I liked the very savory filling, but the wrapper seemed over-friend and was on the chewy side. Though, when heating the leftovers, I put it in the air fryer which helped things. And the Missus ended up enjoying the leftover lumpia.
If nicely fried the lumpia here would be really good.
The woman working was very nice and friendly. The portion sizes are very generous….and that sisig was pretty good. If they were in my ‘hood, I’d visit every so often. It’s a nice, unpretentious neighborhood Filipino restaurant….which was just what I wanted on this day. Also of note; there’s an 3.85% charge for credit cards, so cash is king here.
Lumpia House
13160 Poway Rd.
Poway, CA 92064
Current Hours:
Mon – Sat 10am – 6pm
Sunday 11am – 6pm
If you're keeping score, that's the sisig with the rice and the dinakdakan in the container. Both were somewhat similar. The dinakdakan was mushier, lacking in sour tones, with quite a bit of liquid on the bottom of the container. It didn't have the creaminess I enjoy and the lechon had become rubbery. It seemed to be on the blander side of the scale.
The beef, in this case short ribs was tender, which was a good thing as the bones made things rather unwieldy. I really liked the tart-tomatoey flavors that permeated the beef as well. This went quite well with the mild pungency of the rice.
From previous experience I knew what was available from what was on the white board.
Arriving home, I quickly unpacked things and immediately went for the item I 
 
The sisig had decent spice, balanced with some good sour tones. This might be the best I’ve had here in terms of seasoning and flavor. The lechon kawale was on the chewy and hard side; but still, I liked the flavors.
I like the fact that they have QR code menus; otherwise you'd have to ask at the window since there's no menu posted. I'd gotten so used to doing QR codes when visiting Mexico that I got kinda thrown off when we returned home!
I must say that the bowl looked quite good. The seasoning for the sisig was on the milder side in terms of sour tones and I didn't get much spice until I had a bite with three hidden slices of what looked like Thai Bird Chilies. Whoa…. I came across "groups" of chilies in the bowl. I guess they don't like being alone?
Most problematic for me was the rice, after all this place is named "White Rice", right? It was terribly hard, dry, and there was hardly any garlic flavor at all. I mean, in addition to being called "White Rice", this was a silog, right? The "si" in the "silog" stands for 
This was a lovely looking bowl! And that fried sunny side egg was even better this time around with wonderful crisp edges! I loved the atchara and the almost VN style pickles as well.
How I managed to carry this from the car to my desk without sustaining a hernia I'll never know. I forgot to ask for "half rice" so I got a ton of nicely cooked, moist rice. What's the deal with the giant chunks of protein in turo turo dishes these days? There were like two half thighs, bone and all in the overwhelmed styrofoam container. The chicken was on the tough side and there was a shortage of veggies (i.e. carrots, bell peppers) except for one orphaned potato; that I usually expect in this dish. I guess of you want to max out your protein intake… As you can see, it was quite greasy, and super salty.