L.A. Poke | Colourful bowls in Mitte

L.A. Poke is a new restaurant in Berlin Mitte serving colourful Hawaiian- and Californian-inspired bowls.

Opened in May 2018, L.A. Poke is a restaurant drawing inspiration from Hawaiian poke – a Native dish originally served with raw diced fish. Adapting a modern approach, their bowls can easily be prepared entirely plant-based.

Besides pre-created bowls from the menu, you can build-your-own with a variety of bases, mix-ins, dressings, toppings, and marinades. Although the current menu only offers one vegan option (for those of you eating honey, there is another bowl with tempeh), the create-your-own-bowl option offers countless alternatives – plus the team told us that they’re going to make the menu more vegan-friendly very soon.

During our visit, we tried the “Echo Park Vegan”, a fruity and somewhat spicy poke prepared with smoked tofu, edamame beans, sweet onion, marinated pineapple, cherry tomatoes, zucchini noodles, kimchi, smashed avocado, spicy cucumber and vegan aioli.  The combination might sound a little bit strange, but it actually worked together very well, creating a fresh and somewhat spicy-sweet taste.

For our second vegan bowl, we decided to start from scratch with a quinoa base, tofu, marinated radish, edamame, a miso marinade, beetroot, wakame-seaweed, a coconut-avocado dressing, peanuts, and sesame. All the ingredients were super fresh and the combination of raw vegetables, a marinade, and a dressing was super tasty.

In the end, there is an almost endless amount of ingredients, so you will need some time to choose your favourites. Make sure to ask the staff for their recommendations!

Except for a few ingredients, everything at L.A. Poke is gluten-free and also mostly raw. Bowls are available in two sizes – small and large. We tried the large versions and were almost not able to finish them. =)

The interior of L.A. Poke, designed by Ester Bruzkus Architekten, is made up of pastel shades of pink mixed with vibrant blue surfaces and a natural stone flooring. Everything is reminiscent of a pool area in the Southern United States – from the curved walkways to the reduced bright yellow and red highlights (pipes, pots).

Mixed with modern lighting and the reduced furniture, L.A. Poke is not only a highlight for foodies, but also architecture enthusiasts.

Inside, there is space for about 50 people, while outside you can find 12 to 16 seats, depending on how cozy you like it.

The team behind the restaurant tries to source ingredients from local and organic suppliers whenever possible. Contrary to the Hawaiian-Californian theme, they, therefore, serve German beer and wine as well as organic juice from Berlin.

For their winter menu, most likely starting in October, L.A. Poke will add a vegan soup to the menu.

We recommend to create your own favourite bowl and a beetroot juice 🙂 If you like it spicy, try the kimchi and ask for a compatible dressing/marinade.

We visited “L.A. Poke” in August 2018.

*Please note that this is a sponsored article. Although paid for, it does reflect the opinion of the VeganBerlin-team.*