Da Poke Shack, fresh, friendly, local Hawaiian Dive
Poke (pronounced: Poh-Keh) is a Hawaiian cuisine. I had my first poke at Da Poke Shack in Kailua, Kona. This is a very small shop on Alii Dr, if you drive too fast, you would miss it kind of small.
Poke is a raw fish salad, usually marinated with sesame oil, soy sauce and onions. The menu was really simple, a Poke Bowl ($5) and a couple of Hawaiian food combos. Simple menu, with a lot of different types of seafood salads.
The guys behind the counters were super nice, and friendly. They were really enthusiastic on helping us choosing what we would like. He let me try almost everything at the counter. It was like I was at an ice cream shop, trying all the different types of Poke flavors. Every time they caught me staring at something, they’d ask me if I wanted to try it. That was super cool.
I stopped trying things before I get full from sampling, and I got a Poke Bowl with traditional Ahi Tuna Poke on Sushi rice. I had a choice between regular rice, brown rice or sushi rice, choosing sushi rice with raw fish was a no brainer for me. The bowl came with a big scoop of Ahi Tuna Poke, and was topped with seaweed salad and seaweed seasoning shake.
The portion looked small at first, but it was filling. The Ahi tuna pieces were big, and the marinade was really nice. I liked it a lot. I could taste the soy sauce, the sesame oil, and nothing over powered the tuna. It was fresh, it was yummy. The seaweed salad and the seaweed seasoning shake were really good with rice, I wished there was a little bit more rice than what I was given. Overall it was a really yummy and nice light lunch.
I was recommended to this dive by the people from a local surf shop. I tried to find their restaurant ratings on urbanspoon and yelp, but I had no luck. I would not have known this place existed if it weren’t for the guys at the surf shop, and I’m glad I went. I love their Poke, now I am on the hunt to search for Poke in Vancouver.
You guys gotta visit this place when you’re in Kailua, Kona.
Da Poke Shack
76-6246 Alii Dr.
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii 96740
7 Comments
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April 22, 2010 8:27:13 am
poke poke poke!
is there a beef sashimi version like that haha.. no fair for me
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April 22, 2010 12:25:12 pm
boke poke! I had some in Molokai and it was awesome. At first i thought it was going to be cooked because i had no idea what it was, i just saw Tuna Poke on the menu and ordered it because i hadn’t heard of it haha. When it came i was surprised to find out it was marinated ‘sashimi’ mmmm
While the Poke is very good, i still miss those Papayas. Never had a papaya in my life that tasted so good.
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April 22, 2010 3:49:11 pm
you forgot to say that the main guy behind the counter was ca-yutttttttttte!!!
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June 27, 2010 8:56:54 am
[...] food around the big island short and get to the point: it happened on the last day. They wanted Poke. All of it had soy sauce and other questionable ingredients. This is the moment that eating gluten [...]
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April 18, 2011 9:20:12 am
Aloha! I stopped here cuz it was recommended by a local (Haw’n), and I was cravin poke. I had a great Haw’n Style Poke Bowl, but cost was $8.16, not $5 as reported earlier. Yes, friendly handsome men behind the counter, and fresh fish! I’m sorry I didn’t buy the t-shirt… it was really cool. Go there…it’s ono!
A hui hou,
Kalena (DJ, KAPU Radio) -
August 30, 2011 12:49:34 pm
Hi,
I was there with a friend of mine and we stayed across the street. You guys have the best poke on the planet! I really enjoyed your cuisine. I hope to return from the Mainland to eat such good poke again. Thanks for the great memories.
Dennis
Poke poke! (Its just fun to say.)
The tuna poke and wakame topper look fantastic – please keep us updated on what you find on the poke front in Vancouver. In my opinion, since the tuna in the USA is allowed to be CO treated (thus “fixing” the colour somewhat like nitrates in meat sausage), the flavour tends to change a bit. Plus tuna in Hawaii is *fresh*. You lucky ducks!