Nokan äitienpäivälounas / Nokka Mother’s Day Lunch

Nose to Tail

From nose to tail – and to the bone! Restaurant Nokka serves moose tartare on moose bone porcelain plates made with bones from a moose hunted by Executive Chef Ari Ruoho.

From nose to tail – and to the bone! Restaurant Nokka serves moose tartare on moose bone porcelain plates made with bones from a moose hunted by Executive Chef Ari Ruoho.
A moose harvested by Chef Ari Ruoho was first utilized in the Nokka kitchen to the full extent using all the meat and then making bone broth from the bones. This is standard procedure at Nokka. But this time we took it a step further in wasting nothing.
Chef Ruoho teamed up with pottery artist and sculptor Mari Paikkari to create a set of bone porcelain (bone china) plates made from the moose’s bones. Mari Paikkari makes by hand most of the plates used at Nokka, but this adventure into the world of wild game bone porcelain was a first of its kind to Mari. And very likely this is the first time ever moose bones are used in making bone porcelain.
Mari started the process with burning the moose bones in an open fire outdoors to remove any remaining fat and gelatin from the bones. That was followed by a round of higher heat in a pottery kiln, turning the bones charred by the first fire to pure white bone.
The bones were then milled to fine powder, ready to be combined with feldspar and other ingredients to porcelain clay. Moose bone plays a big role in the mix as 45% of the porcelain clay is bone powder.
Mari designed small amuse-bouche moose bone porcelain plates per Ari’s request. The finished, thin plates are very hard and pure white. When viewed against light, they are translucent. The moose bone porcelain plates are used for serving moose tartare and other game meat amuse-bouche dishes to welcome diners to wild and sustainable dinners at Nokka.
Projects like the moose bone porcelain plates highlight Restaurant Nokka’s ambitions in sustainability and relentless innovation in all operations, which have already earned us a Michelin Green Star in 2024, in addition to mentions in the 360°Eat Guide as well as other awards.
Chef Ari Ruoho is an avid all-round outdoorsman, and in addition to hunting, he also fly fishes and ties his own flies. To celebrate the moose to the full extent, Ari saved parts of the hide and tied flies for trout, salmon and pike fishing using moose hair.