Whatever your opinion of them, Poke Bowls (like Pokemon) are popping up everywhere you look these days. And the demand for them appears insatiable. Who doesn’t want to combine sushi and salad – the two lunch staples of your overly healthy coworkers? The problem is in the rush to meet this demand, a lot of questionable poke places have opened up in the past year passing off frozen fish as fresh and offering other low quality ingredients at high prices.
I’m glad to say the newly opened Koshe Poke is one of the good ones. It also has several things that help it stand out from the pack. First, it’s located inside casual Kosher Chinese/Sushi Bar Eden Wok making it the first poke bowl that’s guaranteed to be kosher. Not your thing? Let’s talk about customization. The $12.95 price lets you choose between bowl, burrito or salad and pick six add-ins (including avocado at no extra charge, so really there’s only five choices to make) as well as one of six sauces and some crispies. Also importantly, it appears to not have the insane lines that many of the poke pure plays do.
This all equates to a place you can visit several times per week and have a very different meal. Look at the difference between the bowl Johnny Prime ordered (top) and mine (above). And that doesn’t even get into burritos or quinoa bowls. The fish is of a similar quality to a decent sushi delivery restaurant, which puts it in the “Good” range for poke bowls. I really enjoyed the sriracha aioli which was surprisingly spicy. Overall it’s a great healthy lunch staple for an area in need of better options.
Note: I was invited as a guest of the establishment and received a complimentary meal. This was not in exchange for a positive review and opinions expressed are my own.
Koshe Poke at Eden Wok
43 East 34th Street
New York, NY
