Seolleung poke restaurant before last order: salmon & soup, Hola Poke

After work I got a haircut at a salon near Seolleung Station, and while wondering what to eat, I decided on something salad-like today. I'd been eating a lot of greasy food lately and my stomach was feeling heavier and heavier.

After some debate over which salad to get, I went for poke, which can fill you up properly too.

Hola Poke Seolleung Branch: location and hours

Hola Poke Seolleung Branch (올라포케 선릉점) is at 6-4 Seolleung-ro 86-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on the 2nd floor. It's a 3-minute walk from Seolleung Station, a handy spot to drop in on your way home from work.

It's open weekdays from 10:30 to 20:30, and it's a well-known poke place among salad lovers as one of the go-to poke spots near Seolleung Station.

Finding the 2nd-floor sign, and the temptation of ramen downstairs

A little way into the food alley from Seolleung Station, the Hola Poke sign, today's destination, was up on the building's 2nd floor.

There was a ramen shop on the 1st floor, but I'd been eating lots of soupy food lately and was determined to have something healthy tonight, so I barely managed to resist the ramen and headed up to Hola Poke on the 2nd floor.

Just inside the building entrance there's an elevator, so on a hot day you don't have to climb the stairs. Then again, hot as it was, I thought taking the stairs as a pre-meal workout wouldn't be bad either.

7:40 pm, just before last order: the atmosphere inside

Having finally shaken off countless temptations, I arrived and walked in, silently saying "Hola!" (hello).

The interior was clean, in a carrot-orange palette that whets your appetite just by looking at it. It was 7:40 pm when I visited, and I'm glad I made it before last order. Any later and, with my appetite already up, I'd probably have ended up helplessly binging at some other place.

On top of that, the posters of beautifully plated poke I saw while looking around made me want to order right away.

The poke & soup set: salmon poke + spicy tomato soup

I ordered the poke & soup set, which comes with salmon poke, spicy tomato soup and the menu's recommended sauce topping.

After a little while the salmon poke and tomato soup came out. To taste the poke as it is, I first mixed it just as served and tried it. The vegetables inside were fresh, of course, and I liked that the brown rice and mixed grains weren't fishy and tasted fresh.

Before and after adding the recommended sauce topping

Then I added the recommended topping sauce to the poke

and mixed it again. The brown rice in the poke turned delicious with the sauce, and I happily wolfed it down.

Spicy tomato soup with potatoes

Next I had the warm spicy tomato soup. It had potatoes in it, so it was filling and comforting.

How was it as a healthy after-work meal?

It was a satisfying meal that filled my stomach, heavy from a long stretch of greasy food, in a clean and healthy way. The wonderful combination of fresh salmon poke and warm, hearty spicy tomato soup felt like it was topping me up with both health and fullness.

Plenty of customers were ordering salads and poke, even takeout, right up until closing, and I could see why this Seolleung Station favorite has such a reputation. If you're looking for a healthy meal that's light but still fills you up, I recommend visiting Hola Poke Seolleung Branch.