We checked out the Hawaiian-inspired eatery, and were dead impressed...
If you absolutely must traipse around a shopping centre for hours during your leisure time, then it’s essential that you get yourself fuelled up and retail ready. You need the energy to brave the bright lights and grey faces the children on sugar highs and the elderly on mobility devices. Skip past all the chains and multinationals – most of them are just different takes on deep fried rubbish anyway – and build yourself an awesome poke bowl at Pokéwaves, just outside Nottingham Street Food Club.
Poké, meaning to thinly slice or cut crossways into pieces, is traditional to Hawaiian fishermen who would garnish small pieces of their fresh catch with a variety of native and Japanese-influenced ingredients, to create a spankingly fresh working lunch.
It’s a build-your-own format – although there are a selection of signature combinations that the house has engineered. A base of sushi rice, brown rice, soba noodles or leafy greens followed by a protein, including wasabi salmon, teriyaki chicken and miso tofu.
At this point you can go wild with your four toppings – pick from fresh vegetables, fruit, crispy seaweed and herbs, as well as Japanese-inspired options such as kimchi, masago (fish roe) and pickled ginger. Add your sauce, and finish with a crispy garnish, such as shallots or the more intriguing bonito flakes.
Regardless of the direction your taste buds choose, you’re guaranteed to sit down with a big bowl of healthy, hearty and flavoursome ingredients for around eight quid, which is highly decent. You’re now ready to tackle anything the shopping centre throws your way... except the Disney Store, maybe.
Pokéwaves, Intu Victoria Centre, NG1 3PA
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