Rating Poke Bowls – Olioli’s Tuna Poke

Tuna Poke (15/20)

     OLIOLI, Lyngby, Copenhagen, Denmark

Pokemonster

The poke craze hit Copenhagen a long time ago, yet it still feels new and fresh and even to this day not everyone is on board the poke hype train. So let me explain what it is very simply. Poke bowls are like sushi – but in a bowl. Same sort of ingredients. Raw fish, rice, pickled stuff, some soy sauce maybe some dressing and lots of fresh greens. So like sushi but if you order your sushi with a few sides and dump it all in a bowl. Makes sence?

Poke is a Hawaiian dish where the main ingredient is fresh raw fish, with an emphasis on fresh. The original version has no rice or any other starch included. It’s just raw fish mixed with soy, onions, maybe some nuts and other stuff and then that’s it. Somewhere along the line someone turned it in to a dish in a bowl by adding a base of rice, some greens, avocado and some sauces or dressings to top it off.  And thus the poke bowl. Which by now of course is the most popular way to get it (besides Hawaii perhaps) and it has become popular all over the world.

I’ve had Poke before in Copenhagen but not at OLIOLI, so when the opportunity came I wasn’t gonna miss it. OLIOLI is a fast growing poke chain and their new outpost is in Lyngby just north of Copenhagen. It’s close to where I live so it was a simple decision in the end. I tried the Tuna Poke, but they have salmon, shrimp, and a tofu poke. They even have a beef bulgogi poke and a duck one if don’t feel like having fish. I’m not saying I’ll never try the meat poke, but I do feel a real poke is all about the fish.

Here’s my rating: (if you’re not sure how the rating works, and what the idea behind it is click here..)

The Poke Bowl Rating Scale (overall 4 – 20)

Fish/Meat (1 – 5)

Rice (or other base e.g. cauliflower rice, quinoa etc.) and Sauces/Dressings (1 – 5)

Veggies (and other toppings) (1-5)

Presentation/Experience (1-5) (e.g. the look and presentation of the poke, freshness, fish to veggies and rice ratio, value for money, overall poke experience etc.)

Tuna Poke Bowl:

Fish (4) – The name of the game is fresh fish and that’s what I got. Perfect sized chucks of clean tasting tuna. Not top of the line but still sushi grade tuna. Can’t really complain there.

Rice & Sauces/Dressings (3) – The rice were perhaps a little on the boring side. Yeah I know you have to mix all the ingredients together and let the dressing and the sauce infuse with the rice. Still though a little too plain. The sweet ponzu sauce and the chili mayo were both good but in the end it still felt a bit lacking. I added a bit of sriracha to my poke for a little more kick as the chili mayo was very mildly spiced.

Veggies (4) – The single best thing, along with the tuna, were the thin strands of pickled ginger. I love pickled ginger and this gave a nice contrast in flavour. The avocado was also very nice and extremely creamy and delicious. I liked the crunch of the radishes too. The edamame were a little too plentyfull and that’s really the only let down. There should have been more avocado and ginger. But that’s my personal preference. If they added some fresh or fried seaweed or some mango perhaps, I might have given it a solid 5. But a huge 4 for the veggies.

Presentation/Experience (4) – I’ve seen prettier plated pokes but in the end you mix up all the ingredients, so it really doesn’t matter. The ratio of fish to rice and veggies was ok. But more tuna, ginger and avocado wouldn’t have hurt. But I also know that these are the more pricey ingredients. Value for money was actually really good. I got a small poke but it was large enough to fill me up and serves as a really solid lunch. I would perhaps order the large one if it was for dinner. Also tuna is a pricey ingredient and you shouldn’t expect to pay any less for a meal like that. Another plus is that you can add more salt/spice to your poke if you want with the sriracha hot sauce and soy sauce available at the tables.

Overall: 15 out of 20 (rating score: Great)

+  Great clean tasting fresh fish, awesome veggies especially the ginger and avocado and solid chili mayo ponzu sauce combo.

–   Plain tasting rice, too many edamame beans

Would I buy again?

Yes, but would perhaps try something else on the menu next time

Would I go to OLIOLI again?

Yes, no doubt