Latest Gold Coast food trend the poke bowl trumps acai in popularity

FOOD trends come and go but the poke bowl is here to stay as the Gold Coast embraces this raw fish salad.

Sandbar waitress Larissa Mallet with a selection of poke bowls. Picture: Mike Batterham

IF you’ve just discovered acai bowls, bad luck, you’re already too late, there is a new healthy food trend sweeping the Gold Coast.

The poke bowl (pronounced poh-keh) is a take on a centuries old Hawaiian raw fish salad dish that is both delicious and Instagrammable.

The bowls, which vary in colour, size, texture and flavour, are appearing on menus all over the city, with Surfers Paradise’s newly refurbished Sandbar getting in on the ­action.

There are more than 100,000 #pokebowl posts on Instagram. Sandbar restaurant manager Jon Slate told the Bulletin they were proving “very popular” among the lunch crowd.

He said coupled with a cold pressed juice the poke bowl was the perfect combo for the Coast climate and while it was “filling”, the dish was light.

“Poke bowls are very good for you,” Mr Slate said.

“They are also very presentable for social media.”

Mr Slate said the delicious dish was part of a new-look menu for the eatery, which coincided with the completion of renovations.

“We have had good reviews from customers and other people in the hospitality industry,” he said.

Poke bowls cost $16 each.