Izna Poke Plus

Izna Poke Plus runs a longer menu than its name suggests. The salmon and tuna bowls are there, built on sushi rice the way the poke format demands — but so are bulgogi beef, spicy stir-fried pork, bibimbap, a hoedeopbap that treats sashimi like a Korean rice bowl, and a full section of warm udon for the days a cold bowl is the wrong call. The University Avenue West counter near the University of Waterloo is less a single-idea poke shop than a small Korean-Japanese kitchen that happens to lead with fish. A table can walk in wanting four different meals and still order off one short menu.

The Salmon Bowl is the clearest first order and the truest read on the kitchen: salmon over sushi rice with avocado, mixed greens, cucumber, red pepper, corn, edamame, sweet onion, seaweed salad, spicy mayo, and house soy. The Salmon & Tuna Bowl runs the same vegetable-heavy build with both fish. For anyone who wants the fish cooked rather than raw, the BBQ'd Teriyaki Seared salmon — BTS on the menu — arrives glazed with teriyaki and finished with tempura bits, green onion, and roasted seaweed, the richest bowl on the board. The Korean rice bowls reach further still: bulgogi and spicy pork, a bibimbap crowned with egg, an unagi bowl built on barbecued eel. Vegetarians get a Tofu Bowl that keeps every topping but the fish.