The Pokéman

What?  Another Poké shop?  Yes, when something is hot in Vancouver, it is more often than not we find restaurants opening up in bunches.  When I first heard of The Pokéman, I did a search and ended up with pages and pages of Pokemon.  So make sure you Google "Pokéman Vancouver".  I was actually invited to check out the place and so I went with Elaine and LJ.  With so many Poké shops in town, it is pretty obvious that a new spot needs to stand out in one way or another.  We were about to find out if The Pokéman could accomplish this feat.

I started with the Ponzu Salmon and this happened to be a good thing as it was the mildest of the 4 bowls we tried.  There was a choice of base including white rice, 8 grain salad or half and half.  On top, every one of them consisted of scallions, sweet onion, cucumber, seaweed salad, nori and super crunch (roasted almonds and puffed rice).  With this particular bowl, it added shibazuke, masago and pickled ginger in a pineapple ponzu dressing.  As mentioned, the flavours were subtle and I appreciated it wasn't salty.  Rather, I could taste in the individual ingredients including the aromatic nuttiness of the puffed rice.

Next up, I had the Spicy Tuna with the same half and half base as well as the standard toppings.  Added to that was masago, nuts and pickled ginger with a spicy gomae dressing.  This was my favourite of the bunch since there was plenty of impact while not being overpowering with the spice level.  There was a aromatic nuttiness not only from the sesame dressing, but also the toasted nuts (that also added a pleasing firm crunch).  I found the white rice to be nicely chewy while the 8 grains was firm and meaty.  Personally, I could've done fine with just the white rice base, but I couldn't deny the nice contrast of the firm 8 grains

Equally spicy, the Salmon & Avocado Yukke was my second favourite which featured half and half base, avocado, nuts and kimchi with a Korean baby dressing.  This bowl was spicy in a different manner due to the addition of kimchi and accompanying Korean dressing.  It was more tangy with a sharper bite.  I liked how the flavours worked with each other including the smooth and creamy avocado, sweet salmon and aromatic toasted almonds.  Once again, the nuts provided a firm crunch as well as the crispy puffed rice.

The other non-spicy offering was the Kame-Hame-Ha Tuna with half and half, masago, mango and nuts in classic Aloha dressing along with the usual basic ingredients as the other poke bowls.  This was fruitier due to the mango and was naturally lighter and more refreshing.  But that didn't mean it was bland though as there was enough seasoning to flavour the rice and everything else.  We ended things off with a refreshing palate-cleanser in the Fresh Watermelon Lemonade.  Normally, I'm not a huge fan of watermelon anything, but since this was freshly juiced, the flavours were natural with equal amounts of tang and sweetness.  I dusted this off pretty quickly.  So did
The Pokéman do anything to stand out in the sea of Poké?  I believe so with the flavourful combinations that weren't over the top as well as the puffed rice and toasted nuts. 

*All food and beverages were complimentary*

The Good:
- Complimentary flavours
- Enough toppings while not going over the top
- Love that lemonade

The Bad:
- For those who love an extravagant array of choices for toppings, this may not be it, but personally I enjoy a simpler product