Ocean Taste: Torched Poke Bowls at South Shore Market

The Spot: Ocean Taste at South Shore Market

Ocean Taste sits on the first floor of South Shore Market, 1170 Auahi St L150, in Ward Village (Kaka‘ako) — the same market building as Off the Wall Craft Beer & Wine. It’s a compact poke counter, not a full-service restaurant: order at the counter, built for a quick lunch run or takeout. Google Business lists it as a Poke Restaurant (secondary: Seafood, Japanese), and Restaurant Guru files it under Sushi/Seafood.

What put it on the map is the torch. The signature move is torched fish over rice — salmon and ahi finished with a flame, plus donburi-style bowls. The breakout was the Spicy Salmon Crème Brûlée Bowl, which blew up on TikTok. When Honolulu Magazine reviewed it in September 2025, the line was out the door and every table was full.

The bowl was created by Anna Ng, one of Ocean Taste’s owners. She was inspired by Japanese dishes that pair sweet-salty sauces with rich seafood — like grilled unagi with kabayaki sauce — and wanted that flavor profile on salmon. Her soy glaze is deliberately less sweet than you’d expect, which is why the bowl reads as savory-creamy rather than dessert.

Practical stuff, all from third-party listings: takeout available, credit cards accepted, wheelchair accessible, with some outdoor seating (Restaurant Guru). The business’s official web presence is its Instagram, @oceantastehawaii.

Signature Bowls: What Ocean Taste Is Known For

The Spicy Salmon Crème Brûlée Bowl — $17.95 is the headliner, and it’s the one dish with a verified printed price (Honolulu Magazine, Sep 2025). It arrives in a pot pie tin: crispy bits of caramelized sugar over a mound of creamy salmon poke, drizzled with soy glaze and Kewpie mayo, on warm sushi rice. The fillings are stacked so high the tin looks ready to overflow — and unlike an average poke bowl, the entire surface is covered with salmon, giving it a better fish-to-rice ratio than most. Your chopsticks break through a thin crystallized sugar shell into fresh, rich salmon cubes. Honolulu Magazine calls it “not a budget bowl” — but also notes one bowl lasted the reviewer two meals.

The rest of the signature lineup, per the Google Business profile and the Giftly listing: the Torched Garlic Salmon Bowl (a reviewer favorite — “one of my favorite things to eat on Oahu”), Torched Garlic Ahi, the Torched Spicy Mentaiko Ahi Bowl, the Lava Flow Don, the Snowy Volcano Don, the Kaisen Don, the Five Seasons Don (one reviewer ordered it with added scallop, Aug 2026), and a honey calamansi drink as the suggested pairing.

During Taste of Ward 2026 (Sep 16–30), Ocean Taste’s featured specials were the lava flow don (a chirashi don) and the spicy salmon crème brûlée torched bowl (Aloha State Daily, Sep 2026) — a good read on which two dishes the shop itself leads with.

Nate’s Take — Coming After Our Visit

This is the part where we’d normally tell you what we ordered, what we’d order again, and whether the torched bowls live up to the TikTok hype. We haven’t visited Ocean Taste yet — so instead of inventing tasting notes, this section stays honest: it’s a placeholder.

After our in-person visit, this is where the real review lands: what we ordered, the full menu with verified prices, photos, and our actual verdict on the crème brûlée bowl.

Getting There: Hours, Address & Parking

Address: South Shore Market, 1170 Auahi St L150, Honolulu, HI 96814 — first floor, in Ward Village (Kaka‘ako). Phone: (808) 636-0877. Official updates live on Instagram at @oceantastehawaii (that’s the website listed on their business profile).

Hours: Wednesday–Sunday, 11:00 AM–6:00 PM. Closed Monday and Tuesday. That schedule is confirmed across four independent sources — Honolulu Magazine (Sep 2025), the Google Business listing, Restaurant Guru, and Giftly — all checked September 2026. Still, it’s a small counter: confirm on Instagram before making a special trip.

Parking: South Shore Market has free covered parking (per Wanderlog and reviewer reports) — a genuine perk in the Ward Village area, where parking usually isn’t free. Reviewers also note the market setup is easy to pop in and out of for takeout.

Ocean Taste doesn’t publish a full menu with prices online. The $17.95 price is from Honolulu Magazine’s review (Sep 2025) — confirm everything in person, since prices can change. Third-party listings put a typical visit at $10–$20 per person.