I’ve never seen frozen poke until I stumbled across the Dom Reserve Singles Poke in the freezer section at Costco! When I think of poke I think of fresh-caught, raw fish, not something I’d defrost in my fridge from the freezer! We’ve recently had fresh poke from Costco in Hawaii and although skeptical I bought this tuna poke to try. So how does this freezer aisle version compare to the fresh stuff?
Other popular seafood products from Costco are the Kirkland Signature Poke, Kirkland Signature Garlic Butter Shrimp, Kirkland Signature Everything Seasoning Breaded Cod, Kirkland Signature Tilapia Loins, Kirkland Signature Salmon Milano with Basil Pesto Butter, Kirkland Signature Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon and the Kirkland Signature Stuffed Salmon.
Location in Store
This is located in the freezer aisle at Costco, the item number is 1618523.
Taste
The first thing that I noticed when I opened my first pack of tuna poke were that a couple pieces looked a little bit gristly. Unfortunately this turned out to be true. There were a few gristly pieces in my pack. It reminded me a bit of the Kirkland Signature pokes that I tried recently, though I think they were actually a bit worse.
On the positive side, I didn’t notice any fishy smell whatsoever from my poke. It just smelled like soy sauce.
The poke seemed pretty saucy when I took it out of the pack and the flavors are consistent with that observation. You taste the sauce more than the fish. The top three ingredients in the sauce are soy sauce, sugar and sriracha, and the flavors are consistent with that. It has a sweetish soy sauce taste with a moderate amount of heat. The sesame seeds add some flavor, but more so texture. The lime is noticeable too, though not necessarily in every bite.
When you get a good piece of fish, the poke is very enjoyable. It’s tender and tasty. The gristly pieces still taste good, but they’re obviously not nearly as enjoyable to eat. Aside from the gristly pieces, my biggest complaint is that the sauce is a little bit overpowering, particularly the heat. It works alright in frozen poke like this, but if you had fresh, delicious fish, you’d want to let it shine a bit more.
Cost
There are five packages of poke in the box and it costs $19.99 Canadian at Costco. This isn’t cheap but seafood in general isn’t cheap and you’re paying for the convenience.
Convenience
The poke needs to be kept frozen and when you’re ready to eat it, thaw in the refrigerator over night. Once it’s thawed you don’t need to cook it, you can just pour it into a bowl and eat it right away. You can eat it as it comes but there are also a few serving suggestions on the box if you want to add a few extra ingredients
The best before date on the tuna poke is almost a year from when we purchased it. Once the tuna has been thawed the box suggests eating it within two days and does not recommend freezing it again.
If you don’t like raw fish or you’re sensitive to certain textures you may not love this but if you know you like raw tuna you’ll probably enjoy it!
Nutrition
Calories
One pouch contains 160 calories, one and a half grams of fat, eight grams of carbohydrates, zero grams of fibre, seven grams of sugar, 29 grams of protein and 570 milligrams of sodium. Although it’s a bit on the salty side the amount of protein is amazing for only 160 calories and one and a half grams of fat.
The carbs are also very low, I’m a bit surprised there’s sugar in the poke but it makes sense because there’s a mildly sweet flavor.
Ingredients
Unfortunately the poke is not gluten-free due to it containing soy sauce. It’s dairy-free though and doesn’t contain any nuts. The ingredients list is really straight-froward with wild-caught responsibly sourced tuna, poke sauce, sesame oil and black sesame seeds being the main ingredients.
Scoring
Taste: 7.5/10
Cost: 7/10
Convenience: 10/10
Nutrition: 8/10
Overall
Give it a try!
Although I find the sauce a bit much when you get a non-gristly piece of tuna this is really enjoyable. For a frozen poke it’s decent!
Have you tried this Dom Reserve Singles Tuna Poke from Costco? What did you think of it?
Please note that this review was not paid for or sponsored by any third party. This product was purchased by Costcuisine for the purpose of producing this review. The opinions in this review are strictly those of Costcuisine. Costcuisine is not affiliated with Costco or any of its suppliers. In the event that Costcuisine receives compensation for a post from the manufacturer of a product or some other third party, the arrangement will be clearly disclosed (including where the manufacturer of a product provides Costcuisine with a free sample of the product).
