Kona Poke

Asian Persuasion and Lil Strawberriee saw Kona Poke’s pictures on Instagram. Located in the Plus 15, it helps if you bring along someone familiar with the office maze. Office Dad easily navigated us to Kona Poke but when he saw the line-up, he ditched us for Vic’s HK Café in Chinatown.

We waited at least 30 minutes in the line-up. There was one staffer who cheerfully apologized for the wait and he would take an extra couple minutes to chitchat and talk to the customers about the Kona experience. After waiting so long, it was nice to get that extra special care.

Build your own poke bowl is easy to do with Kona’s 1-2-3 steps. Step one – pick a size. A regular contains two scoops of seafood for $10.50 and a large offers three scoops for $13.50. If you have a big appetite, get the large. The regular size was perfect for a light lunch.

Step two – pick a base. Choose from sushi rice, brown rice, field greens and tortilla chips. Kona was out of sushi rice so I asked for brown rice and field greens. The brown rice was very warm but by the time I got back to my cubicle, it cooled down. Initially, I was disappointed not to get sushi rice, but it turns out the brown rice is my favourite. Nutty and firm, it adds a nice chew and contrast to the softness of the fish.

Step three – pick your sides. Cucumber, jalapeños, sweet onions, red cabbage, and for extra avocado ($1.50), crab ($1.50) and crab n cado ($2.00). I picked cucumber, sweet onions and red cabbage. I was informed that the crab was a bit like a crab salad.

Step four – pick any two scoops of albacore tuna, salmon, octopus or ahi tuna. An extra scoop will set you back $2.00. Kona was out of ahi tuna, but I could still get tuna and salmon. Next time, I’d add an extra scoop of seafood, just because I’d like a piece of fish in every bite.

Step five – add your sauce. Options include: Kona ponzu, maple miso, lava and spicy mayo. I asked what was in the lava but it was pretty loud and all I got was awesome. I added the Kona ponzu, lava and spicy mayo.

Step six – stack it up with crunchy peas, ginger, sesame seeds, furkikae, green onion, wasabi and masago. Unfortunately, Kona was out of crunch peas. I added everything but ginger.

I mixed up all the ingredients and quickly devoured my delicious bowl of goodies. The ingredients and sauces melded well together. For $11, I thought Kona offered good value for fresh, healthy, personalized fast food.  In the future, I’d love to see fresh seaweed salad as a topping. As this was Kona’s first week, I completely understand that they ran out of ingredients. I’m a fan and plan on bringing more of my office mates to try the ahi tuna poke. Next on our foodie list – Poke and Vitality Tap.