Pacific Poke: Poke and Panini in Chinatown

Pacific Poke has finally opened their doors in Chinatown on Main Street. I’ve been waiting for a long time to open as it’s the closest poke restaurant to my office.

What sets them apart from other poke restaurants in Vancouver is their clean, wholesome ingredients packed with bold flavours. When I saw they were finally open on Instagram, I went with a few of my coworkers to check it out as it was we needed some lunch.

Interior

You order on the left side and on the right side is their seating. They have a few tables and some seats by the window. The decor is simple, but the metal origami pieces are pretty cool.

Ordering

On the menu, you can build you own poke bowl or pick one of their many chef inspired creations.

I always end up building my own to cater to my own taste buds. They have 2 sizes – regular and large.

If you want something different, they have poke paninis. There are 3 kinds:

First, you choose your poke base. You can do a classic base of organic brown rice or traditional sushi rice, but I went with the kale salad base.

For the protein, you can choose from:

Sockeye salmon
Ahi tuna
Negitoro
Steelhead
Spicy tuna
Spicy Salmon
Albacore tuna
Crab
Shrimp

Some of their selection can change seasonally based on whats available. I went with the Sockeye Salmon and Ahi Tuna as those are very classic.

For the toppings, they have:

ginger jicama
tomato kimchi
pickled red onion
green onion sprouts
red beets basil
jalapeno
organic seaweed salad
fresh wasabi peas
seasonal offerings

I couldn’t decide what to get so I asked them for a bit of everything to add to my bowl. Why not get all the ingredients to try it all.

They also have some drinks, but their house-made iced teas and lemonade are amazing:

Strawberry Green Tea
Yuzu lemonade
Unsweetened Genmaicha

You can ask them to try them before deciding which one to get.

Poke Bowls

After the first few bites, you can tell the toppings are super fresh and not coming straight from a can. They seem to put a lot of work into preparing each topping that goes into the bowl.

Even though the portion size wasn’t as large as some other poke places in town, the flavours of the sauces really shine and doesn’t over power the fresh pieces of fish.

How my coworkers and I describe this place is like the Tractor of Poke.

Poke Panini

The Poke Panini’s can be order in full or half size. My coworkers got their Salmon Poke Panini and they enjoyed other ingredients that came inside the panini like the tomato kimchi.

Final Thoughts

Easily one of my top favourite poke places in town. With so many poke places opening up in town, each place has their own unique difference. I really appreciate how Pacific Poke put a lot of love and care into each ingredient, you know it’s not from a can. Plus their drinks is worth a try. Their portions are a bit smaller and prices are a bit higher than the other places but I would come here again.

We Rate Pacific Poke: