Chikarashi — Restaurant in New York

Poke is one of those things that have been getting popular in the city, within good reason. Some great places have opened up and Chikarashi is one of them!

Chikarashi has been on my list of poke spots to try for a while now, and when I realized they extended the hours to accommodate someone like me who would go there after work, it was a major plus and I then had to try it!

An interesting twist they have here at Chikarashi is that they have some unconventional bowls here to provide variety, which includes cooked fish, a concept that is not "poke" at all. My friend and I got the Seared Toro Suji as the cooked dish and Sichuan Chili Salmon as the typical poke bowl. The Seared Toro Suji was good with a nice char taste to it. I have to say though that the star of the show was the Sichuan Chili Salmon! It was not too spicy (for my taste buds) and the salmon was prepared very well. It is one of the best poke bowls I have had so far in NYC. I need to come back here to try some of their other poke bowls and hopefully resist the temptation of having the Sichuan Chili Salmon.. even though it is so good!

Ah, and what do they have here for dessert?!? Dole Whip!! I did have it.. but maybe I am spoiled to having it in California, it is good do not get me wrong.. but its not the same as when I had it on the west coast. Maybe I had just the okay batch that day who knows.

Anyways, with their recently extended hours, make sure you take...

I was craving for poke for the last little while. I mean, I've been to Wisefish Poké, and it was okay. Not the greatest. So I searched up "poke" again on Yelp, and this popped up! Luckily, I had a doc's appointment today in Chinatown, so I ended up traipsing to Chikrashi for lunch.

First off: The space is lovely. It's a little tucked away from the crazy Chinatown, and it's so clean and minimalistic.

The service was great -- the people that were helping me out at the cashier were very nice and approachable.

I got myself the wasabi-goma tuna, because I was craving both avocado and wakame. The staff was right -- the regular was VERY filling (3 oz of fish). I wonder how full I would've been with the large! I brought the poke home, and devoured it quickly. I just wished they had more avocado in it. Ingredients were super fresh though.

Apparently it's still the soft opening right now (I hope they won't be TOO busy in the future, just for my own selfishness... Heh). They plan to open it for the evening hours as well, but that will be later in the future.

BONUS: They carry Schweppes Cream Soda!!!! I haven't had this since I was...

The Poke craze has crossed coasts! At Chikarashi, the ingredients are good, the portions are on the smaller side, and the seating area is clean and bright. They have quite a few flavors on their menu and we got the Chojang Hirame and the Sichuan Chili. I was a little bit disappointed at how much mayo was in the Sichuan Chili. I also somewhat dislike that they serve their poke bowls -- which they kind of market to be higher end and fancy -- in brown paper bowls, which soaks up flavors and makes the rice stick to the sides. On the bright side, you can ask for a sample of the Dole whip, if you're on the fence.

We went because my friend specifically wanted poke and we found this place on the internet -- I don't know if I would be back unless a guest specifically wanted poke. After growing up in LA and Hawaii, I'm still not quite used to poke as a gourmet and expensive food and I'm not impressed enough with the price and food to go back again and again without someone else...