These Poke Bowls Will Get You Hooked
In a sea of poke spots, Aliʻi Fish Market on Oʻahu stands out with gourmet poke bowls featuring inventive twists on comforting flavors.
Tucked away in his eatery on South King Street in Mōʻiliʻili, Robin Abad is swiftly slicing fresh fish, prepping pohole fern salad and carefully plating a row of short rib pipi kaula, all while talking story with his customers from behind the counter. He hands over fresh poke bowls, pork belly bao buns and smoked meat to a retired couple who come to this hole-in-the-wall at least once a week to try a new dish from Abad’s inventive menu.
Abad opened Aliʻi Fish Market at the end of 2023 with Baron Miho and Chivas Miho, and they’re already building a list of lunch time regulars. Oʻahu’s already got an extensive list of poke spots and in this competitive and contentious market, it often takes years for new restaurants to cement their place among decades-old favorites—and that’s if they survive the difficult first years.
Inside Aliʻi Fish Market in Mōʻiliʻili.
Photo: Catherine Toth Fox
Aliʻi Fish Market is Abad’s newest restaurant venture, but his gastronomic expertise traces back to Kapiʻolani Community College’s culinary program. From there, he gained experience and built his reputation by running the kitchens at resorts including Orchids at the Halekūlani in Waikīkī and the restaurants at the ʻAlohilani Resort. While managing Aliʻi Fish Market, Abad is currently teaching culinary students part-time at Waipahu High School and operates a catering business, Kiawe & Kabagis.
Inspired by the island’s no-frill mom-and-pop eateries, Aliʻi Fish Market’s restaurant model is simple: prioritize fresh fish and incorporate as many locally sourced ingredients as possible.
The Kampachi Kanpai comes with kampachi and hamachi yuzu shiso poke, olive oil, hijiki, Aloun Farms ‘Ewa sweet onions, soy truffled ikura, tamagoyaki, gari shoga, kaiware sprouts and ʻalaea salt. It comes with wasabi fried chicken with kabayaki sauce, lemon and wasabi aioli.
Photo: Catherine Toth Fox
However, Aliʻi Fish Market’s flavor-forward offerings are anything but simple. And a surprising twist at the fish shop; each poke bowl is paired with a meat-focused side.
“When we opened the shop, we had to think about standing out,” says Abad, naming three other poke spots within a five-minute drive. “The unique part is we have smoked meat.”
The restaurant’s core poke bowls celebrate Hawaiian and immigrant cultures that have shaped local cuisine. Da Aliʻi is a tribute to a more traditional preparation of cubed ʻahi with limu (seaweed) and kukui. Kālua pork comes as an ancillary protein with pohole fern and lomi tomatoes. The dish packs all the flavors and more of a classic lūʻau plate. For just an additional $5, customers can add kiawe-smoked short ribs.
Da Aliʻi is like a lūʻau on a plate.
Photo: Courtesy of Aliʻi Fish Market via Facebook
To paint Hawaiʻi’s culinary landscape, Abad pays homage to Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Filipino cuisines. He utilizes ingredients that might be considered unconventional in a poke bowl to cleverly craft dishes that trace back to comforting favorites.
The Sinigang Sling is Abad’s ode to the Filipino sour soup. A trio of ‘ahi, aʻu (marlin) and hamachi are dressed in tamarind, Thai herbs, cilantro, chile and fried onions. The herbs are bright while the chiles spark heat and fried onions create crunch. The poke is paired with a box of Filipino-style roast pork belly and gravy.
Another twist at the shop: the fish in the Kampachi Kanpai, an homage to Japanese cuisine, is served sans soy sauce. Instead, the kampachi and hamachi are seasoned in yuzu shiso vinaigrette and olive oil. The poke is then topped with soy truffled ikura. The salmon caviar provides the briny soy flavor and tinges of umami. “It’s fun, it’s like there’s pockets of treasure,” Abad jokes.
(Left) The pohole fern salad. (Right) Spicy pork belly.
Photo: Catherine Toth Fox
And Abad’s menu consists of nuanced gems, including tako taegu doused in a sweet and spicy sauce, homemade kimchi and ʻahi patty musubi that achieve the right ratio of fish to rice. For indecisive first-timers, the impressive inari bombs are poke from Abad’s signature bowls stuffed into deep-fried tofu pockets (inari), which make a delicious sampler pack.
Aliʻi Fish Market sells inari bombs, poke stuffed into deep-fried tofu pockets.
Photo: Catherine Toth Fox
Dessert lovers: don’t worry. With Abad’s attention to detail and flavor, he couldn’t forget something sweet. The restaurant’s dessert cup is a mini cheesecake that you can keep all to yourself, topped with a refreshing layer of mango pudding.
Located in an unassuming spot just a 10-minute drive from the heart of Waikīkī, Aliʻi Fish Market is worth the search for gourmet poke bowls and a chance to talk story with Abad about the treasures on his menu.
Aliʻi Fish Market, 2320 S. King St., Suite H, Honolulu, (808) 892-1299, aliifishmarket.com.
