Restaurant: Sweetfin Poké
Location: 829 Broadway, Santa Monica, CA 90401. (310) 395-1097
Date: October 7, 2016
Cuisine: Poké
Rating: Better than what I’ve had before, but not that exciting
This is my second trip to a pure Poké shop. I mean, I’ve had Poké in Hawaii, and I’ve had a tremendous amount of sushi, but this whole “Poké joint” thing is fairly new — if a huge trend as they seem to be everywhere now.
Located right on Broadway just a couple blocks back from the Promenade. Too far to walk, but it didn’t stop the crowds (which must be fairly local) from showing.
The menu system is on the board. Here you pick from more curated bowls or build your own in a less assembly line fashion than the other one I went to: Poke Express.
The crowd was huge on this random Friday at 12:30.
Spicy Yuzu Salmon. yuzu kosho sauce, edamame, lime. Like everyone else I added crispy onions (and cucumbers). It was okay. Certainly better than the Poke Express mess of flavors. More in balance. But still, the rice was a little weird. I prefer straight sushi rice. And the whole thing didn’t have a TON of flavor. A good chirasi bowl is way better. This was a large. It wasn’t large. The small was tiny.
Horchata. Odd with poké.
I’m not sure I get the whole poké thing. Don’t get me wrong, I love raw fish, but these combinations are a bit odd and everything either tastes like dressing or not much at all. It’s fine, but nothing exciting. Why’s it so popular? Maybe because it’s “cheap” and vaguely sushi-like? Maybe because the quick serve format is appealingly fast? Maybe people think it’s healthy (should be reasonably so)? I dunno. I certainly don’t really crave it.