Hannu Wiss, Founder of Tampere Institution Salud, Dies
Hannu Wiss, founder of the long-running Tampere Spanish restaurant Salud, has died. He opened Salud in 1974, later moved it to Tuomiokirkonkatu and sold the business more than a decade ago.
Wiss opened Salud on Otavalankatu in 1974 at the site now occupied by Gastropub Soho. He moved the restaurant to Tuomiokirkonkatu in 1996 and sold the business more than ten years ago.
Bodega Salud’s Facebook page praised Wiss as someone who "created something in Tampere that has endured for more than half a century." The post called Salud his life’s work, saying his love of Spanish food, his bold approach and wholehearted spirit still live on in the restaurant’s classic dishes, atmosphere, stories and the people who have worked and celebrated there.
According to YLE, Wiss was 81 and began his culinary career in the early 1960s at the Jussila bakery. The report says he later trained as a chef in Helsinki and worked as a ship’s cook, with sea voyages that helped inspire the Spanish-style concept at Salud.
YLE also describes the restaurant’s reputation through the way Wiss greeted guests: customers reportedly loved listening to him “curse and bellow” when dishes arrived. The outlet adds that the menu’s crowd-favourites included pepper steak, and that Salud later became known for a lavish salad bar in the 1980s.
According to YLE, even in the recession of the 1990s, the restaurant kept offering adventurous choices – examples from the period included bison, alligator, kangaroo, and rattlesnake. The staff confirmation shared on Facebook also echoes the same memories of Wiss and the restaurant’s long-standing appeal.
His death was first reported by Aamulehti, and was later covered by Tamperelainen, which said he had died.
Catch the full story over at Tamperelainen
