Tucked in one of the busiest street in Manila is a five-decade old lumpia house. Tagged as the best fresh Chinese spring roll in the metro, Globe Lumpia House’s small hole in the wall is swarmed every single day by faithful patrons looking for a quick bite after trudging the crowded streets of Quiapo, Raon and Recto.

The eatery is quite easy to miss if you’re just passing through Raon, but you’d definitely find it if you ask around, Globe is a household name along the area.
It was an early Tuesday afternoon when we dropped by the place, we were thinking since it’s a regular day, they’d have free seats available. We were wrong and we had to wait a few minutes before we got seated.
The store’s interior is pretty basic, white-tiled floors, stainless steel bar-type tables and Orocan plastic chairs. For decors, photographs of local celebrities that visited the store line the walls. The eating area is quite small and in my estimate can seat a maximum of fifteen persons only; past that number and you’d get really acquainted with your seatmate.
Globe Lumpia House needs no menu as they only serve two foods, Fresh lumpia and empanada. Well, three really if you count the Sarsi they sell that goes really well with their spring roll.

Once seated, we ordered a fresh lumpia each. At P16.00 this was definitely a steal.
It arrived in less than a minute, and was all eaten up in less than five.
 
There are two methods in eating fresh lumpia, the neat and the messy method.

I prefer the neat one; once the lumpiang sariwa arrives, I pour generous amount of garlic sauce and sprinkle it a bit with some hot sauce. I then slice it to bite-sized portions and add a few more sauce as needed. 

Others however, prefer the messy way. They slice the lumpia to a mess, pour the garlic and hot sauce over everything, mix the bits some more, and after the lumpia doesn’t resemble a lumpia anymore, that’s the time they chow down.
So what makes Globe Lumpia so special from others like it? Now that’s really tough to answer. I can really never put my finger as to what makes their dish tick, it seemed to be similar to other fresh spring rolls around, but it’s not. It just  taste so right, with 50 years of experience, they’d definitely had time to perfect this recipe. The flavors just burst into your mouth; sweet, garlicky, fresh, and spicy. It’s a symphony of flavor that just blends so well together.
I average three servings of their lumpiang sariwa on visits. But don’t take my word for it, next time you pass by the Quiapo area try looking for Globe’s Lumpia House, I’ll bet one serving won’t be enough to satisfy your palate. And as one of my officemates testified, you’d forget your name on first bite.

 

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I revisted Globe Lumpia in Raon after some time and I was greeted by a queue of people outside the store. Well, this isn’t really extraordinary since the place is a really popular food joint in the area (especially during Quiapo day when the faithful visit Quiapo Church in throngs). But as I went in to line up, I noticed that there are no more tables inside the carinderia.

Apparently, Globe has now stopped serving lumpiang sariwa for dine-in customers. The once cramped eatery has closed the dining area and replaced it with a take-out counter. Which is quite sad, as I really wanted my lumpia right there and then with my unlimited chili and garlic sauce in supply.

Price is still affordable, even if they increased it from Php16.00 to Php18.00.

Well, beggars can’t be choosers, so we queued up and bought our lumpiang sariwa like the rest of the guys in line. There were not a few who were buying by the dozens so it took a bit before we got ours.

Globe’s lumpiang sariwa seems different when not eaten at the store. It’s not as fresh as when it’s served right after being made. To be honest, after some minutes into the packaging, it already felt soggy and doesn’t look appetizing. My wish is for Globe to bring back their dining area. It’s just better that way.

 

Globe Lumpia House
Address: 740 G. Puyat Street (Raon),
Corner Quezon Avenue, Manila
Contact Number: (632) 733-2918
Open Hours:

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GPS Coordinates: 14°36'01.8"N 120°59'03.3"E