[H]ealthy Lunch

Hey guys!

Welcome back to the No 'Z' Urbanite Food Journey day 8! Today's theme is the letter 'H' which means..HEALTHY LUNCH REVIEW. Now I don't mean "healthy" as in just typical salad bowls with the usual caesar/thousand island dressing because let's be honest here, where's the fun in eating that on a regular basis? I'm referring to all-rounded, satisfying and wholesome lunches you can indulge in without packing on the extra pounds. So today I'll be sharing with you guys a truly healthy lunch treasure, the Poke Bowl!!

Picture credits: www.thefinder.com.sg

Background Nugget

The Poke ("poh-kay") bowl is a raw fish salad originating from Hawaii. The term poke is the Hawaiian verb for "slice" or "cut", hence the dish often includes small cuts of seafood such as fresh salmon and octopus. Poke is also usually seasoned with soy sauce, scallions, and sesame oil. To add another welcome burst of flavour, other seasonings such as wasabi, seaweed and chilli pepper may be included as well.

Health Benefits of Poke

Poke is one of the healthiest and tastiest foods around. All the ingredients (fresh fish, endless varieties of veggies and marinades) make this dish naturally low in calories. In addition, Poke contains essential heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, which help to protect our hearts and reduce the risk of death from heart disease. Fish is also linked to reducing risk of depression, stroke and mental decline as we age. So yes, consuming Poke regularly can help us to age gracefully too!

A Poke Theory - A Fresh Singapore Take

Local Poke bowl hotspot A Poke Theory goes by the motto "Life's too short to eat bad food." - and we couldn't agree more! The eatery serves only the freshest Poke ingredients, with a large variety to choose from as well.

To make the ordering process as smooth as possible, customers follow 4 simple steps to create their personalised Poke bowls.

1. Select a base - signature sushi rice, brown rice, lemon herb quinoa, romaine lettuce

2. Choose a flavour - original shoyu tuna, avocado miso salmon, avocado poke "vegan", spicy mayo salmon, spicy garlic sesame tuna

3. Choose a weight - Regular (100g) or Large (150g)

4. Choose toppings - pineapple, nori flakes, wakame seaweed, cherry tomato etc.

We opted for their regular signature sushi rice with avocado miso salmon, topped with cherry tomatoes, wakame seaweed and crispy salmon skin. Regular toppings such as carrots and cherry tomatoes are already included in the price, but do take note that you will have to pay an extra $1/$2 for premium toppings such as the salmon skin that we had. In total, our Poke bowl set us back by $13.50.

Now, on to the taste! The avocado miso salmon was similar to the usual salmon sashimi - fresh and full of flavour. However, the salmon was a little too "jelak" for our liking as we felt that the avocado miso seasoning overpowered the natural flavour of the salmon. A little bit of a disappointment, actually. The signature sushi rice was generally well-cooked - we expected the quality and flavour to be on par with traditional Japanese restaurants, and we weren't disappointed. The rice was a nice complement to the (too) well-seasoned salmon, and helped neutralise the overpowering avocado miso flavour.

The cherry tomatoes were very juicy and surprisingly not sour at all, providing a welcome burst of flavour to the dish. Although we found the wakame seaweed to be alright, we felt that it added a nice Japanese touch to the Poke bowl as a whole. But we were most impressed with the crispy salmon skin. As promised, the salmon was perfectly fried to a crisp, and was not too salty. We were reminded of our favourite salted egg yolk fried fish skin - except the salmon skin was thankfully less salty and artery-clogging!

All in all, we felt that our Poke bowl was generally worth the money in the sense that the quality of the food was above average, thanks to the awesome crispy salmon skin. We also give credit to the delicious cherry tomatoes and the flavourful salmon. Just a tip: you may want to consider sharing a large-sized bowl with friends ($16.50 for salmon as a main) if you're not feeling too peckish, as the food here is rather expensive. Andd that's all for today's food review, and we hope that it helped inspire you to go try a healthy Poke bowl for yourself! :)

Address: A Poke Theory

27 Boon Tat Street

Singapore 069623

Opening hours: Weekdays / 11am - 8pm

Saturdays / 11am - 4pm

Closed Sundays

Rating: 3.9/5, $$$

Website: http://www.apoketheory.com