Will Poulter, an actor best-known for his roles in "The Maze Runner" and "We're the Millers," highlighted his favorite Columbus restaurant, Hoyo's Kitchen, on the food-focused social media account Mythical Kitchen. The post garnered thousands of views and likes.
The two-time Emmy-nominated actor starred in the film "Union County," set and filmed in central Ohio, about two brothers in a rural area who go through court-mandated drug rehabilitation. Poulter discovered Hoyo's while filming the movie that came out in August, and has repeatedly mentioned it during interviews since.
Hoyo's Kitchen, founded in 2014, is a Somali restaurant with multiple locations in Columbus, including Downtown in North Market. It's a family-owned establishment and translates
to "Mom's Kitchen," according to Mohamed Hassan, a co-owner.
Hassan said when Poulter first came to the restaurant last year, he thought it was just someone with a striking resemblance to the actor. He later realized it had actually been him when he saw videos of Poulter talking about the food online.
"I saw his movie 'Warfare' a few days before, so when I saw him in line, I thought, 'That guy looks like Will Poulter, but this dude is British,' and I didn't realize he was British. I didn't realize how tall he was."
Hoyo's became a favorite spot for Will Poulter
Poulter asked Hoyo's Kitchen to cater the cast and crew's last day on set because everyone loved the food so much. Hassan said he got to visit the set and meet everyone, describing Poulter as the "nicest guy" and a "true gentleman."
Hassan's brother and fellow co-owner, Abdilahi Hassan, said he is grateful to Poulter for taking so much time highlighting their restaurant.
"It's incredible, him putting us on the map like that," Abdilahi said.
Because of Somalia's location in Africa, Mohamed said its food is a bit of a fusion of everything around it, giving it a very unique flavor. While it uses rice and meat as the base in most dishes, the spices are a combination of flavors diners might recognize from Indian, Persian and Ethiopian dishes. He said at Hoyo's Kitchen, specifically, the mango chicken dish is the most unique item on the menu.
In the Mythical Kitchen video, Poulter described the food as having an "unbelievable" flavor unlike anything he'd ever had before.
During a recent visit to Ohio for the movie's premiere, Mohamed said Poulter and some of the crew visited the restaurant multiple days in a row. His sister was especially excited about Poulter visiting because she's a "huge fan."
"When we last came to Ohio with the movie, we didn't actually check into our hotel when we landed in Columbus, we actually went straight to Hoyo's as a first stop and we just kept our suitcases in the car," Poulter said in the Mythical Kitchen video. "We absolutely love that place."
Mohamed said he found out about the video because his friends started sending it to him and his family right when it came out. Since Poulter started talking about Hoyo's Kitchen, the restaurant saw a rise in customers, many of them coming up to the counter wanting to talk about Poulter.
"There's a lot of new faces, and it's clear that they saw this video," Mohamed said. "It's just cool to see the reach that some people have because we have people who live in Columbus who never heard of Hoyo's Kitchen, and they say, 'Oh man, I didn't even know about this and this is my city, I've got to go out and support,' so that's been awesome."
Dispatch reporter Lilli Malone can be reached at lmalone@dispatch.com or on Instagram at @lillimwrites.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Actor Will Poulter says one Columbus restaurant is his 'first stop' when visiting Ohio
