Lentil and chickpea salmon poke bowl in Gangnam, Seoul: Ola Poke

Ola Poke Gangnam: a poke restaurant for lunch near Gangnam Station

The place I went for a poke lunch near Gangnam Station was Ola Poke Gangnam. It's a 5-minute walk from Gangnam Station Exit 4, in the underground shopping arcade.

I was trying to figure out what to eat for lunch near Gangnam Station and thought, let's eat a bit healthier today, so I went for poke. Honestly, when I think of poke I usually think 'isn't it basically salad with a bit of rice?' so I didn't expect the portion to be that big. But after eating this one, my thinking changed a bit. It was way more filling and way more fun to eat than I expected! The place I visited was Ola Poke Gangnam.

Ola Poke Gangnam hours and parking

• Address. 46 Teheran-ro 4-gil, B104, Basement Level 1, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• Closed. Every weekend, Saturday and Sunday
• Hours. 10:30 AM - 8:30 PM
• Break time. 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
• Last order. 8:10 PM

<Subway> 5-minute walk (400m) from Gangnam Station Exit 4. Come out and go straight toward the Ssangyong Platinum building, into the underground arcade / <Bus> 4-minute walk (300m) from Gangnam Station stop (13370). / <Car> Parking available, 1 hour free. Use the building basement or a nearby public parking lot

Parking is available too.

What's on the menu at Ola Poke Gangnam

Ola Poke has a wider menu than I expected. You can pick from chicken breast, salmon, tuna, or steak depending on your preference, so it looked easy to choose whatever ingredient you're craving that day.

Beyond raw salmon, there's a fairly wide range of protein options like tuna, shrimp, and steak, so there's a good amount of choice.

The solo dining hearty set I ordered at Ola Poke Gangnam

What I ordered that day was the solo dining hearty set:

• Salmon poke
• Spicy tomato soup
• Zero Coke

That's what I had.

Along with the poke, warm rooibos tea was also provided.

When the food first arrived, I was honestly a little surprised.

'Wait... can I actually finish all of this?' The bowl looked pretty hefty. Haha. But to cut to the conclusion... yes. I finished it. And quite thoroughly too. Haha.

How fresh were the vegetables in the poke bowl?

What I liked most about Ola Poke's salmon poke was the freshness of the vegetables. The vegetables were really fresh. Vegetables are usually the first thing you notice in poke, right? And that day, the freshness of the vegetables was one of the things I liked most while eating.

They were crisp and crunchy with no wilted feel, so with the first bite I thought, 'ah, these ingredients are solid.' Apparently Ola Poke gets vegetables from Garak Market every morning, which are then washed and dried by a specialist company before being supplied to the stores. Poke is a dish with a lot of raw vegetables, so that kind of freshness matters more than you'd think. Because the vegetables were so fresh, I didn't get that typical salad-fatigue feeling while eating the whole bowl.

I thought the salmon portion was small, and I was wrong

And the thing I was most curious about: the salmon! At first glance I thought, 'hm, isn't there less salmon than I expected?'

But after eating it, that was totally wrong. There was enough salmon that I could scoop some up with nearly every spoonful. The salmon pieces themselves weren't cut too small either, they were just the right size to pop in your mouth in one bite.

They weren't diced too finely either, so I could really feel the texture of the salmon while eating it. And with salmon in there, it definitely added to the fullness. Ola Poke apparently uses raw salmon rather than smoked salmon, and when I ate it, the salmon was indeed fresh and satisfying.

Lentils and chickpeas make the salmon poke filling

Another reason I liked this poke: it wasn't just vegetables + rice + salmon. Ingredients like lentils and chickpeas were mixed in too, giving quite a variety of textures to chew through. With legumes added, you also get plant-based protein, which helped make the whole bowl more filling.

Rather than just relying on salmon for protein, having several different ingredients together gave me the feeling of 'I properly ate a real meal.' With so many different things packed into one poke bowl, the combination shifts a little with every spoonful.

The sauce that ties the poke ingredients together

And of course, sauce matters a lot in poke. No matter how good the ingredients are, if the sauce isn't great, you get tired of it quickly. But the poke I had that day had a tasty sauce, so the combination of vegetables, salmon, and legumes worked really well together.

Apparently Ola Poke doesn't use pre-made sauces but makes them in-house. Even the soy sauce is simmered from scratch, which I think is one of the points that makes Ola Poke's flavor its own.

From pineapple to seaweed, every bite is different

There's also a real variety of ingredients packed into one bowl. As you eat along, you get fresh, sweet pineapple in the mix,

and there's also crunchy seaweed, so the texture keeps changing. You eat crisp veggies, then chewy salmon,

then legumes popping between your teeth, then pineapple comes along to freshen your palate, then back to crunchy seaweed. Eating this way, oddly enough, even though the bowl was pretty large, I kept enjoying it right to the end. Usually with a bowl of salad, around the halfway point you start thinking, 'ugh... there's still so much left.' Haha. But that day I felt that a lot less. With so many different ingredients, I never got tired of it, even at the end.

The warm rooibos tea at the self-serve bar

And this was something I quietly appreciated.

Warm rooibos tea at the self-serve bar. Poke itself is mostly cold, fresh ingredients, so sipping some warm rooibos tea in between bites gave me this feeling of... ah, my stomach feels settled?

Especially for lunch, rather than eating only cold food the whole time, having a warm tea alongside it was much more comfortable. Personally, I liked this small touch.

Spicy tomato soup on the side of the salmon poke

The spicy tomato soup I ordered alongside also paired well with the poke.

If the poke felt fresh and light, the warm, spicy tomato soup in between bites balanced out the meal.

And with a can of Zero Coke on the side, even eating alone, it felt like a pretty proper meal.

It looked like a lot at first, but I finished the whole bowl

Honestly, when the food first arrived, I thought, 'there's no way I can finish this.'

The bowl was pretty big and packed full of ingredients. But as I ate through it bit by bit, the bottom started to show at some point. And in the end... I finished the whole thing. Haha.

Watching myself, who thought it was too much at first, finish it all to the last bite, I felt a bit proud, thinking 'I ate a properly healthy meal today.' It wasn't just about filling up my stomach; the fact that I evenly ate vegetables, salmon, legumes, seaweed, and fruit made it even more satisfying.

Busy from 11 AM: lunch crowds at Ola Poke Gangnam

Ola Poke Gangnam had quite a lot of customers coming in from 11am. I visited during a relatively early lunch hour, but customers were already coming in steadily from 11am. Being near Gangnam Station, the vibe was clearly a lot of office workers stopping by for lunch.

Working near Gangnam Station, there are days when lunch just becomes an endless cycle of gukbap, stew, jeyuk, or noodles, so it seemed nice to switch it up sometimes with a light and refreshing bowl of poke like this. Especially on days you're eating alone, it seemed like a good solo lunch option near Gangnam Station since you don't have to agonize over the menu, you can just eat cleanly out of one bowl.

Worth it if you're looking for poke near Gangnam Station

Ola Poke has been operating since its first branch in Munjeong opened in 2021, and apparently all branches manage their taste with the same recipe. The signature menu is varied too, so besides salmon poke you can choose chicken breast, avocado, smoked duck, steak, seafood, tuna, or shrimp depending on your taste.

Among those, the salmon poke I had that day was great because I got to enjoy a variety of flavors and textures in one bowl: fresh vegetables + fresh salmon + a variety of legumes + seaweed + pineapple. At first I thought, 'this is quite a lot,' but seeing myself finish the whole bowl in the end, haha, I felt like I'd had a healthy, filling meal. If you're looking for somewhere to eat solo near Gangnam Station, or want a lunch that's filling without being too heavy, this poke lunch near Gangnam Station at Ola Poke Gangnam is worth a visit.