Review of 'Island Poke'

I have never tried “poke”, the Hawaiian marinated cubed raw fish dish served in a bowl on top of a base of rice or slaw that can be topped with any number of things. When Time Out came up with a good deal for any poke bowl and a drink at Island Poke I figured it was a good time to give it a try. I do love sushi and this seems like a bit of a fusion take on sashimi.

Broadgate Circle - View from Island Poke

Island Sushi is a bit tricky to find on the first floor of the somewhat trendy eating/drinking area of Broadgate Circle (go up the stairs towards the UBS building – the tiny Island Sushi is on the first level about half way around to the right – look for the bamboo fencing). It seems to be really geared for the lunch crowd with no seating inside though there are a number of tables on the balcony overlooking the middle of Broadgate Circle and it's collection of restaurants and bars (it was cold when we visited so it was nice they had blankets).

Interior

The menu is quite straightforward, you either chose from the three “House Bowls” (£7.85) or “Build Your Own Bowl” (£8.85) served on a base of sushi rice, brown rice, greens or slaw. They do appear to offer a fairly basic breakfast as well.

Preparation

This was our first visit so we decided to select from the “House Bowls”. We placed our order with the preparation area on one side of the small space much like what you might see at places like Subway (though, of course, much nicer ingredients though just as messy when we visited). I selected the “Classic Ahi” (“Ahi tuna shoyu, sushi rice with pineapple chilli salsa, wakame seaweed, crispy shallots, spring onion, sesame seeds”) served on brown rice (not the sushi rice) for a bit of a different flavour and my companion tried the “Beet It” (“Roasted beetroot, chilli lime shoyu, brown rice, pineapple chilli salsa, spiced macadamia nuts, pickled ginger, spring onion, sesame seeds”).

Beet It

The “Classic Ahi” was quite tasty with a bit of spice on the tuna adding quite a lot of zing but the flavours were all distinctly tasty. Generally a nice, feel good, healthy meal. It was not a huge portion but just enough for us. The crispy shallots added a nice bit of crunch to the dish and the pineapple salsa was very sweet and flavourful. The tuna was perfectly seasoned and very much like sashimi so I can see those that are a bit funny around raw fish would not be so keen. I was not such a fan of my companion's “Beet It” not being a huge fan of beetroot with the flavour of the beet really dominating the dish (mine was a bit more of an assortment of different flavours rather than being dominated by one).

Balcony Back Door

It was not busy when we visited on the Friday though there were a few people lingering over drinks as well as a couple of others than came to have a bite after we arrived. There seemed to be a continuous stream of take away drivers arriving throughout our visit. So, it does seem quite popular.

Yeah, not fancy but quite tasty and a great, light meal. There are not a lot of options on the menu but I would certainly be interested in returning either here or to their other location in Soho (8 Kingly Street, London, W1B 5PQ). It makes a change from the normal options…

Rating: “Really good but I have some issues”

Review Date: 2017-11-17


Cuisine: American/British

Address: Broadgate Circle, London, EC2M 2QS ENGLAND

Public Transport: TUBE Liverpool Street NRLOGO Liverpool Street Station

Location: London (England) - Spitalfields

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URL: http://islandpoke.co.uk/