Poke Bowls in Singapore – 10 Most Affordable Bowls for Your Salmon Fix (2019)

The poke bowl (aka the cai png of Hawaii) is typically made up of cubed sashimi (usually salmon or tuna), various fruits and vegetables and sushi rice.

It’s no surprise that this particular food trend is still going strong – somehow when drizzled with savoury poke bowl sauces, even grass becomes edible. I’m a huge meat-eater who skips on veggies for most meals, but I actually eat all the greens in my Alter Ego poke bowl.

The only problem is that poke bowls are mad expensive in Singapore.

But I guess you can’t put a price on health (and Instagram likes), right? Ranked from cheapest to most expensive, here are the 7 most popular poke bowl restaurants in Singapore.

Umi Sushi ($8.90 to $10.90)

Everyone’s favourite takeaway sushi chain Umi Sushi has the dubious honour of selling the absolute cheapest poke bowl in Singapore, although it’s probably only for a limited time only as it is, after all, a sushi shop.

At $8.90 for a small bowl and $10.90 for a regular bowl, this poke bowl for you to satisfy your craving on a hot day but probably isn’t the kind you’d brag to all your Instafriends about.

Salmon Samurai ($9.90)

Clearly targeting the health-conscious CBD crowd with its 2 locations at Ocean Financial Centre and 100AM mall, Salmon Samurai is surprisingly affordable. There’s just the one poke bowl – the soy-flavoured Salmon Poke – while the rest of its salmon bowls feature seared or sashimi salmon.

All bowls at $9.90 but you can upsize your salmon portion for an additional $6. As a bonus, the food here is served in actual wooden bowls, which is a lot more environmentally friendly (not to mention prettier) than the typical takeaway cardboard bowls.

A Poke Theory ($9.90 to $15.90)

Located slightly off the main central business district at Boon Tat Street is A Poke Theory, the flagship cafe by Tandem Collective, founded by local siblings Vannessa and Joey Lee. The 20-somethings are protagonists of a high-profile success story – the business has since expanded to 4 A Poke Theory outlets, plus a sister store Alter Ego (read more below).

Despite its fame, A Poke Theory’s poke bowls are one of the cheapest available. You can get a Light Bowl (75g poke or 100g avocado poke) at just $9.90, although the “normal” size is the Regular Bowl (100g poke or 150g avocado poke). You can choose from the original shoyu tuna or salmon, or the spicy variants. There is also an avocado bowl that’s vegan-friendly.

Oh, by the way, A Poke Theory is halal certified too. You can see A Poke Theory’s menu here.

Rollie Ollie ($9.90 to $17.95)

Rollie Ollie has 3 outlets, but the one with the full poke bowl selection is Pasar Bella at Suntec City. There are 7 bowls to choose from, but the most popular ones are Aloha Poke (from $12.95) and Yuzu Poke (from $14.95). They come in 2 sizes (regular / super) and you can choose your preferred “base”.

There’s the regular sushi rice and brown rice, but also a specialty tea-infused rice (no extra charge). The cheapest bowl is the vegetarian one; the Green Goddess bowl (from $9.95) has pan-seared tofu, tamago, edamame, and more.

Katto ($10.90 to $14.90)

Katto at Fusionopolis isn’t particularly well known for poke (probably because it’s doesn’t have the word “Poke” in its name?), but it’s actually one of the best places to get affordable poke bowls in Singapore. The regular and “overflowing” sizes are $10.90 & $14.90 respectively, but if you’re not having a full meal, there’s the snack bowl for $7.90.

You have a choice of tuna or salmon poke; each comes in 4 varieties. Apart from the typical shoyu, yuzu and mayo flavours, Katto also has locally-inspired ones like sambal and chicken rice chili (!?). For the adventurous, they also now have a sambal swordfish “poke” bowl which is only $6.

Aloha Poke ($10.90 to $17.90)

Before there were poke bowls at every turn, there was just Aloha Poke. The poke pioneer now has 8 outlets islandwide, making it the biggest chain around.

You can say that everyone else are copy cats, but there’s nothing that special about Aloha Poke anymore. Thankfully, it’s relatively affordable, with prices starting at just $10.90 for a customised poke bowl (Build You Own Bowl).

If you’re lazy to DIY your poke bowl, you can let the kitchen freestyle for you – but it’ll be expensive. The signature bowls are $16.90 to $17.90.

Poke Lulu ($11.90 to $19.90)

Poke Lulu is located at United Square and Oxley Tower, and the most unique thing about this poke bowl chain is that there are free flow sauces at the condiments station.

It may sound like a “duh” thing, but I’ve visited poke bowl stores that actually charge for extra sauce. I won’t name names lah, but you know who you are…

Menu-wise, it’s $11.90 for small (75g of poke), $15.90 for medium (150g of poke) and $19.90 for large (225g of poke). Keeping off carbs? Swap your rice for salad instead.

Poke Doke ($12.50 to $18.90)

Once it hits $12, I consider the poke bowl too expensive. First to encroach into high SES territory is Poke Doke, which is at Millenia Walk – unfortunately for me, Poke Doke is serves my favourite poke bowls, so I suck it up.

There 3 poke sauces (original, spicy and wasabi), and a choice between salmon and tuna. Depending on your appetite, choose from regular ($12.50), medium ($14.90), large ($18.90) or the carb-free pokerito ($13.50), which is just a scoop of poke plus 4 add-ons.

For $1.50, you can have premium add-ons like onsen egg, salmon skin, avocado and more.

Alter Ego ($14 to $17)

Alter Ego is the bipolar sister of A Poke Theory: In the day (before 9pm), it serves the clean menu of poke bowls and smoothie bowls, but after dark, it’s time for booze and deep fried burgers. While it’s got a pretty cool concept, the prices are quite a bit higher than A Poke Theory.

The poke bowl menu is slightly different, with 5 pre-made options for you to choose from. The cheapest one is the vegan Green Goddess ($14) – why everyone’s vegan bowl got the same name ah? – but if you want something more unique, try the Dynamite Kickin’ bowl ($17). It’s got tuna in a spicy garlic-sesame seasoning, as well as super sinful salmon skin.

Pololi Singapore ($15.99 to $17.99)

Pololi is actually a super popular poke bowl chain in Hong Kong, and it opened its first doors in Singapore at the end of 2016.

There are two sizes to choose from: Small is $15.99 with 150g of poke, while Regular is $17.99 with 180g of fish. That’s like most places’ medium and large servings.

Their poke selection changes every day, but in general, they’re more than the usual original, spicy and wasabi mayo ones. There’s been Thai-style and Hong Kong-style sauces, as well as Yuzu Shoyu. Another thing is that you can sample the poke before ordering it, so if there’s a new flavour that you’re apprehensive about, that helps.

Ninja Bowl ($16)

Alright, so Ninja Bowl isn’t exactly a poke bowl specialty store, but it is super popular and has 1 poke bowl on the menu – the Yasai salmon poke bowl. It is $16, and has mixed sultanas, onsen egg and cherry tomatoes.

I have several friends who don’t eat raw fish and hence can’t hop on the poke bowl bandwagon, so in cases like this, Ninja Bowl is a great cafe to go to. It’s the most expensive of the lot though. The other (cooked meat) bowls are $14 to $18.

Which is your favourite poke bowl in Singapore? Share it with us leh!

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Feature image credit to A Poke Theory.

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