11 Jun 2025
James Cameron visits the Hawaii-themed new addition to the city centre’s restaurant scene…
It’s difficult to keep up with all the new entrants on the St Albans restaurant scene. You mean to go along to a new place and by the time you get there something has popped up in its stead. To make matters worse, now they’re appearing in previously un-culinary sites. It’s like Mickey Mouse fighting off the brooms with an axe.
Aloha Poke have settled in what was at one time an outdoor clothing shop, and have prettied it up very nicely indeed.
There is bamboo and neon all around, and the lights have Hawaiian-style grass skirts. Even the toilet is fresh and inviting. The tables let the side down slightly, the high ones are irregular and with a colonnade structure difficult to get your legs under whilst the sofas seem low enough to be a danger to your digestion. Despite this it’s a stylish reimagining of the space and a cool place to hang out.
I had always assumed that Poke bowls had the same etymology as Pokémon/Pocket Monsters, but that really doesn’t make any sense as walking around with raw fish in your pockets is not the best way to make friends and influence people.
Instead it comes from the Hawaiian word meaning ‘to cut’, referring to the cuts of raw fish that originally made up the centrepiece of the dish.
The Japanese influence is definitely there, though, deriving from the long history of interactions between the two islands (good and bad). As well as raw fish you have the options for teriyaki, katsu and yuzu, and they even have a separate menu of ramen if you are that way inclined.
There is definitely no need to venture away from the Poke, though, as there are near infinite options.
You can create your own bowl from the ingredients on offer, but if you are the sort of person who gets decision paralysis at Subway then you will probably want to go for one of their Signature or House bowls, as well as a number of vegan options, predetermined combinations that would probably be better than anything you could throw together in a state of overwhelmed confusion.
These are also very good value, being around £11 per bowl. They are incredibly filling, so there is no real need to order anything else, but being a conscientious (and greedy) reviewer of course I did.
The food came quickly, or at least half of it did because there was then a very long wait for the second tranche. Luckily everyone got something, so whilst the vegan contingent
started attacking their giant bowls I was consoled by some Aloha Fries.
These are apparently Korean-style, increasing the slightly scattergun culinary heritage, but tasted fantastic. The fries themselves were well-cooked, and they were covered in a generous mix of sauces, spring onions and some fantastic toasted sesame seeds.
It was a flavour combination I have never experienced before but would be happy to meet again.
If you are going vegan there is the option for falafel or tofu, but we settled on the pumpkin katsu.
This was a wise choice as Aloha’s katsu game is strong. The coating was less crispy than your Wagamama variety, but the pumpkin inside had a great texture and had really kept its intrinsic taste despite the flavoursome sauce.
Finally the remainder of our order arrived, meaning the meal was something of a stop-start affair, though no more so than if you had ordered a starter and a main. I had gone for the Honolulu Salmon bowl, and it was fresh, inviting and invigorating.
The avocado tasted super-fresh, as did the salmon (which is what you would really hope for if you’re eating raw fish), but hidden within were occasional massive thwacks of wasabi to keep things interesting. Due to the layering you had to be careful to excavate the bowl correctly to avoid eating ingredients sequentially, but that added a layer of fun to the process of eating.
Non-Vegan #2 went for the Spicy Ahi Tuna, which certainly lived up to its name. Possibly too much for him, though anyone with a robust chilli tolerance would be fine. The vegan side dish were spring rolls, thicker than you would expect but with great flavour.
My favourite item, though, was the smoothie I had. Again there were plentiful options but I chose the ‘Avo Go Go’, possibly a pun on ‘Have a Go’ but with a superfluous extra ‘Go’. This featured the unlikely combination of mango, broccoli and avocado, plus ginger because everything is better with ginger. It is certainly the most I’ve ever enjoyed broccoli and though it wasn’t cheap (£6) I probably could have managed with just this as a meal.
Although it can be difficult to keep up with all the new entrants, it is always fantastic when something different appears, giving you flavours and options that aren’t available elsewhere.
Aloha certainly tick the box there, but they give you fresh and delicious food that makes you feel simultaneously virtuous, smug and full. Go along and fill your pockets!
