What is poke?

So, what is poke...and how do I pronounce it?​

Poke (pronounced poh-kay) is a Hawaiian raw fish salad. Typically containing either octopus or yellowfin/ahi tuna, it’s served cold on a base of rice or slaw topped with seaweed, fruit salsa, pickles and all manner of other garnishes. Originally an appetiser in its native Hawaii, poke is now seen as a fast-casual lunch item.

Would I have seen it around before, or is it brand new?​

Poke has been in the UK for a couple of years, with a few restaurants pioneering the Instagram-friendly concept in hotspots such as Soho and Shoreditch. It’s still a long way from being well known, but it’s taken the US food market by storm over the last couple of years.

Really though? Or are we talking another fad? ​

Up a reported 355% in terms of Google searches over the past 12 months, the amount of Hawaiian restaurants Stateside doubled between 2011 and 2016. Such was the appreciation for poke in the US last year that there are now 40 restaurants that either specialise or have multiple poke items on their menus in Dallas alone. If the growth rate continues at this pace, there will be more than a thousand Hawaiian restaurants serving poke by 2020 in the USA.

OK, so the Americans really like it. But what’s the big deal?​

Poke is a hodgepodge of Japanese and traditional coastal Hawaiian cuisine and ticks all the boxes in terms of the key and consistent trends worldwide, namely low-fat healthy eating, nutrition and affordability. Its customisability is also a nifty self-promoting attribute, with social media awash with favoured combinations and colourful pairings. It even comes in a bowl, one of the top predicted trends of 2018, according to, well, everybody.

So it’s not too pricy? Even though it sounds like deconstructed sushi?​

Coming in at £7.80 a serving, Soho-based Island Poke’s ahi bowl of soy-marinated tuna, sushi rice, pineapple salsa and spring onions is an outrageous bargain. Island Poke is one of the main outposts for the growth, and it’s no surprise it was named one of Time Out​’s top 10 places to eat in London for under a tenner. That’s £7.80 a bowl. In Soho.

Tell me about these variations. What kinds of fish are we talking?​

So aside from tuna and octopus, salmon is also a popular choice. In London alone you can already find scallop and shrimp varieties, as well as swordfish, snapper and even beef tataki versions. Tofu is also obviously involved, almost as obviously as how much the vegan community have taken to it.

Then you can start to talk about the almost limitless variations possible with the accompaniments, with bases ranging from brown and white rice to mixed leaf salads and quinoa, while toppings can include fried onion, edamame radish, red onion, sweet potato, confit ginger, pineapple, coriander, carrot, kimchee, cucumber and much, much more.

Anyone famous looking at pokey in London? (Did I say it right?)​

Nope, it’s poh-kay. So, the Australian restaurateur Kurt Zdesar – once the European restaurant director at Nobu and now a founding partner in London mainstay Chotto Matte – opened his second London restaurant last year and it’s, you guessed it, a poke bar and grill. It’s called Black Roe, it’s in the heart of Mayfair and they call their poke bar their “crowning glory”. Expect celebrities to be spotted tottering down the street clutching multi-coloured bowls in the very near future.

This article was supplied by The Morning Advertiser’s sister title www.foodspark.com​​​. ​
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