I have never tasted Hawaiian food and recently in my city I opened a typical local restaurant, called Hula, and after having had great feedback, then my wife and I, together with a couple of friends, decided to order the Poke Bowls. Poke is one of the typical dishes of Hawaiian cuisine, basically based on fish, although the restaurant also offers a revised version based on chicken meat, to satisfy even those who are not particularly fond of seafood.
We ordered our custom Poke takeaway and they were delivered right on time, about 10 minutes early. The transport packaging is really elegant: a colored card envelope in which inside were our Bowls, cardboard containers and closed with home lids, with adhesive seal.
Despite the time elapsed, the food was perfectly hot. In the bag there were also colored napkins, wooden forks and chopsticks for those who were more skilled and used to using them. The restaurant offers Poke already assembled or offers the possibility to customize them and that's what we did.
Being inexperienced in Hawaiian cuisine, I composed my dish by choosing ingredients that I already know from Italian cuisine. So the pole was composed like this:
- Rice
- Salad
- Grilled chicken
- Cherry tomatoes
- Corn
- Caramelized onion
- Lime Majonese
- Ginger
The scent was very intense: the caramelized onion somehow dominated the other smells and it was a pleasant sensation because I love the caramelized onion, I like the sweet contrast of the melted and pungent sugar of the onion. A truly perfect combination. In addition, all the other ingredients harmonized in a decidedly convincing way. To the taste, the ginger was particularly perceived but it was anything but annoying, indeed a very pleasant taste that I personally love.
I liked the grilled chicken so much, associated with the taste of caramelized onion it was truly incredible and intense, the lime mayonnaise was perceived in a delicate way and did not bother me at all. I tried to eat with chopsticks but unfortunately I'm not at all practical and I really struggled to pick up a few bites. The small and elegant wooden fork was very useful to be able to comfortably enjoy my poke.
The only flaw was the excessive use of caramelized onion which, as much as I like, in excessive quantities creates a particularly sweet and nauseating taste after several bites. I promised myself not to add it again in future dishes.
My wife and friends also really enjoyed Hawaiian food and we are delighted to have tasted new dishes. I think the price is on average in line: the classic poke costs 10 euros + any special ingredients that on average cost 1/2 euro (raw tuna for example), the larger portion instead has a base price of 12 euros. My standard portion was more than enough to fill me up, the large one would have been a bit excessive but obviously that's my personal opinion.
Excellent poke, very good Hawaiian cuisine. But next time I will order a typical poke already composed, based on fish, so that I can taste a more specific local dish.