One of NYC’s Most Acclaimed Poke Restaurants Grows Two More Outposts

Chinatown poke restaurant Chikarashi — which has somehow managed to rise above the dime-a-dozen poke spots popping up around town — will soon open new locations in Nomad and FiDi.

The restaurant from former Neta chef MIchael Jong Lim, an alum of restaurants like Masa and Aldea, offers bowls inspired by both Hawaiian poke and Japanese chirashi, tinged with flavors from Chinese and Korean cuisine. A menu of 11 bowls include a Sichuan chili salmon, which comes with Furikake seasoning, panko, and a spicy orange-colored mayo over a bowl of rice.

Chikarashi

An outpost at 1158 Broadway in Nomad will open in a month, and one in FiDi at 38 Rector Street will debut in the fall.

Although Hawaii-inspired poke restaurants spread like mad in the last year, most of them are practically indistinguishable. Chikarashi managed to swim to the top of the pile, with critics saying that it serves the best bowl in the city. Eater critic Robert Sietsema says it’s among the best he tried during his citywide crawl of the new poke crop, with fish that tastes fresh. It’s also one of the few places trying to “reinterpret poke in a creative direction,” he writes.

A Chikarashi spokesperson says that the new locations will look just like the original one at 227 Canal Street. See the current menu below, and stay tuned for more.