Shaka Bowl

Overview

Airport stopovers are usually the worst. Average food, crowds of cow-like and dead eyed people staring into the abyss of boredom, queues, annoying announcements for MIA passengers. Yet for the owners of new opening Shaka Bowl, a stopover at LAX was the inspiration for a new restaurant.

After trying some Hawaiian poke (which is currently ridiculously popular in California and Hawaii) at the Los Angeles airport's foodcourt, Shaka Bowl's founders decided to start making the dish at home for friends. That quickly snowballed and turned into a Shaka Bowl food stand at various night markets across Auckland just earlier this year. Success continued to follow a solid upward gradient which saw them open up a brick and mortar version of their night market stand on High Street this week.

Poke, a fresh, raw seafood salad traditionally made with tuna, began its life as a fisherman's snack made out of cut-offs from their catch. It became the Japanese-influenced dish it is today (featuring the likes of a seaweed salad and wasabi) around the 1970s.

Each poke is different, so at Shaka Bowl they incorporate some tropical aspects to the salad as well - mango and cranberry seeds to freshen up the traditional dish. Your choices are simple: tuna, salmon or tofu in a small, regular or large size. The dishes (served as takeaways) are simple, fresh and ideal for the coming summer months when no one wants to feel weighed down or bloated by the contents of their stomach. A decent takeaway eatery to try at least once if you're in the area.