Two years ago, my daughter Emily texted me about something that didn’t involve me ruining her life. (Normally a hot topic for her – I’m kidding, she adores me. Sorta…)
No, instead she insisted that we go out for something called “poke” – a term I confess I hadn’t heard of before.
Emily said this was the next hot food trend and we needed to jump on board. (My daughter is as big a foodie as I am.)
So I searched around the interwebs and found a place in East Van that turned out to be forgettable. It turned me off poke because it was so mediocre.
Since that time, poke has taken off in Metro Vancouver with more and more places opening up. I don’t believe it’s as hot as ramen – there seems to be far more new ramen places opening, but that’s just based on what I’ve seen.
As poke has grown, I decided a few months ago to try it again and have found some decent places in Burnaby like Pacific Poke and Steve’s Poke, which has a place just down the street from where I live.
But while those places are solid and offer you options to custom design your own poke bowl, it turns out my favourite poke bowl came in a most unexpected place – Cactus Club.
Don’t laugh. Yeah, I know, food blogs aren’t supposed to write about big chain restaurants. They’re supposed to only champion independent eateries.
My “Bite. Me.” blog is dedicated to that goal, but occasionally I have to tell it like it is – the poke bowl at Cactus Club is something that makes my toes curl compared to all of the rest I have tried. (There might be better out there, but I haven't found it yet.) It’s pretty much the only thing I order at CC, although their French fries are also incredible.
I find most other poke too oily and soaked in sesame oil – damn them and their heavy hands with the sesame oil. It just kills everything else – it’s like a culinary ebola virus.
At Cactus Club, they have sesame, ginger, ahi tuna, jasmine rice, mango, cucumber, avocado, edamame, green onion, radish and crispy tempura. It also has some sort of creamy sauce and a crunchy kind of cabbage.
It’s not radically different from other pokes I’ve had – it’s just done with a light touch and the combinations are simply ahead of other places.
It’s so good I find I don’t eat it - I attack it and feel like I need a cigarette afterwards and some smooth jazz.
*Disclaimer: This is NOT sponsored content. I pay for my own meals and write what I think. The restaurants in this blog have no idea I’m writing about them.
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
