Don’t poké fun at healthy fast food...

TERMED the new healthy fastfood, poké (pronounced poke-eh) is the aesthetically-pleasing combo of raw cubed fish and vegetables.

The Hawaiian delicacy has been the inspiration for a flurry of restaurants around the world, and now Manchester is set to welcome its first dedicated poké restaurant.

Based in the Smithfield Building on Dale Street, Oké Poké will be geared towards the fast food and lunchtime market, serving bowls of poké from £7.95.

“The easiest way of describing it is deconstructed sushi,” explains owner Saman Golesorkhi. “It’s very fresh, it’s very fun, it’s very delicious.

“Poké means cubed fish, and it has influences from Asia. They can be made from anything; tuna, salmon, we can also do vegan or vegetarian versions with tofu and mushroom.

“We’re going to concentrate on sashimi, but we’ll also have a chicken version for anyone who doesn’t want raw fish.”

The restaurant – which will be open from 11.30am to 9.30pm every day – will feature a small amount of seating, but the emphasis will be on takeaway.

This is Golesorkhi’s first Manchester venture, but he’s no stranger to the restaurant business.

The Barbados-based entrepreneur has three ventures based on the Caribbean island.

“There’s a lot of high-end restaurants in Barbados but there’s no middle market, so that’s where I came in – to create that middle market,” he said.

Oké Poké aims to launch later this month – follow Okepoke.co.uk for updates.