Restaurant stories

Restaurant stories: Hook 🍗💙

The wings restaurant Hook was born in Tampere, the “wings capital of Finland”, in 1997. Hook’s fiery wings have since spread to nine other cities around Finland – from Helsinki all the way to Levi. Hook is a sports restaurant through and through, with big screens to watch games on being an important part of the restaurant’s atmosphere. Juha Vuorio, co-owner of the chain together with his wife since 2014, is himself a former basketball player. In addition to this, Hook restaurants have several known sports names behind them, like Raimo Helminen, Jere Lehtinen, Lauri Markkanen and Jari Litmanen. Hook’s menu consists of dishes like hot wings, burgers and ribs that seem simple enough on the surface, but what makes them special is the expertise they’re prepared with, and the quality and freshness of the ingredients used. Hook only uses 100% Finnish meat. The hot sauces also play an important role when it comes to attracting more wings fans. The Canadian ice hockey team enjoyed Hook’s wings, too, says Vuorio: “During the last World Cup, Canada were about to be eliminated and prepared to head home, but by some miracle, they pulled through in their last match and made the playoffs. The match ended so late that all restaurants were closed, but then our phone rang and they asked if it’d still be possible to order.” Hook managed to save the victory party: three chefs worked together to prepare 1000 wings, 50 burgers and 50 ribs and fill the stomachs of the hungry Canadians. When asked about his personal favorite dish, Vuorio doesn’t need to think twice: “The chicken burger by Lauri Markkanen. It uses a ranch sauce designed by Lauri himself, which I think is delicious.” The favorite dish among customers, however, are still the ever-popular chicken wings with medium sauce and waffle fries.