BOWL THEM OVER
These bowls are pokeing their way onto menus across the Coast. Emily Macdonald finds out how Poke California stands out from the crowd
Build it and they will come is a philosophy Poke California owner Michael Kang has taken to heart.
With a foundation of rice or salad reinforced by sashimi and all held together by sticky sauce, this is one construction which already has locals making the pilgrimage into the hub of our tourist district.
While many places boast a poke bowl on their menu, at Poke California diners will have hundreds of combinations to choose from as they’re encouraged to create the bowl themselves.
Situated in Circle on Cavill, Poke California only opened this month but Michael already has plans to franchise it to the rest of the country and the world.
Poke California marketing director Song Ee Hanh, who is
also Michael’s partner, says the couple were not previously in the restaurant game but fell in love with the cuisine on their business travels.
Song Ee has a background in hotel management and Michael in accounting and they both travelled to California last year to sample the original build-it-yourself bowls for themselves.
“We really want to introduce this new, healthy trend food to Gold Coasters that the people in California love so much,” Song Ee says.
“We’ve seen a lot of poke here but not a lot of people using the Californian system.
“So far our salmon and tuna are definitely the most popular along with the tofu vegetarian option.”
Poke bowls originally come from Hawaii with a strong influence from the sizeable Japanese population who call the island state home.
Michael has also included ingredients from his home country of South Korea on the menu including spicy chogochujang sauce and marinated bulgogi beef for those who don’t want to try raw.
“With his business background Michael has done his best to reduce the labour processes so the prices are good without sacrificing the quality of ingredients,” Song Ee says.
Building a bowl is done in five steps starting with rice, then a protein, mixers such as edamame or avocado, sauces including wasabi mayo and finished with a crispy topper like fried garlic and onion.
Prices start at a small vegetarian bowl for $10 and range up to a large bowl with four proteins for $16.90.
Song Ee says they soon hope to have a range of healthy house- made drinks joining the bowls on the menu.
Poke California, Circle on Cavill, Surfers Paradise