Are eye-watering £630 steaks finally turning diners off Salt Bae? Profits at viral chefs Nusr-Et London restaurant slump by £1.6m amid slew of bad reviews
Profits at Salt Baes London restaurant nearly halved last year as demand for ultra-expensive steaks cooked by the viral chef appears to be plummeting.
Profits at Salt Baes London restaurant nearly halved last year as demand for ultra-expensive steaks cooked by the viral chef appears to be plummeting.
Nusr-Et Steakhouse, which is based in upmarket Knightsbridge, saw its earnings tumble in 2022 as the cost-of-living crisis bit into its wealthy clientele.
The venue made a profit of £1.7million in 2023, down from the £3.3million it made the year before, while sales fell by 31 per cent.
The financial results are likely to spark more speculation over the future of the Instagram-favourite, which has been inundated with negative reviews and slammed for its expensive menu.
Some dishes are sold for exorbitant prices, including its £630 giant tomahawk steak and £50 gold-plated baklava dessert, with dinner dates sometimes costing customers thousands of pounds.
Salt Bae, whose real name is Nusret Gökçe, has seen profits tumble at his London restaurant. Pictured: The chef at Cannes Film Festival in May 2019
The chef (pictured) opened the restaurant in London in 2021 as he capitalised on his viral fame
However, the venue (pictured) has seen turnover plummet, with the amount of profit it made halving in 2023
The London restaurant was opened in September 2021 as Salt Bae, a Turkish chef whose real name is Nusret Gökçe, capitalised on his popularity.
The 41-year-old rocketed to viral fame in 2017 after a video was shared online showing him sprinkling salt on a customers steak off his forearm in dramatic fashion and extravagantly cutting meat.
His antics have earned him more than 53million followers on Instagram and some of the biggest celebrities in the world, including Leonardo DiCaprio, David Beckham and Lionel Messi booking a seat in his restaurant to see him in the flesh.
His London venue raced out the blocks, raking in more than £8million in sales in its first three months, but just three years later it struggled to make the same turnover over the course of an entire year.
The butchers empire has belied signs it may be crumbling - one of his New York restaurants closed in May, less than a year after his Manhattan burger venue in the same city also shut its doors.
The business currently has 18 restaurants spread as far afield as Los Angeles and New York in the United States and Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the Middle East, as well as others in London and the Greek island of Mykonos in between.
Meanwhile, in the UK criticism of the prices and ambience at the Knightsbridge venue has been almost unrelenting, with overwhelmingly negative reviews.
On review website TripAdvisor Nurs-Et is ranked at 15,019 out of 15,426 restaurants in all of London, with customers giving it 2.5 stars out of five.
Salt Bae shot to fame after a video of his signature serving style, which includes sprinkling salt off his elbow, went viral on social media
The chef has more than 50million followers on Instagram, where he regularly posts videos showing his extravagant dishes including his gold-wrapped tomahawk steak (pictured)
One of Nusret Gökçes signature dishes is his Golden Giant Tomahawk steak (pictured)
Many slammed the prices at the time of opening, which saw the Golden Giant Tomahawk steak sold for £1,450, Golden Giant Striploin for £1,350 and Golden Kafes for £500.
One diner wrote: Terrible food. Meat was not at all tasty. Ended up going for a £5 kebab after a £300 bill... this place is the biggest joke in London.
Meanwhile another added: Insult to humanity. Worst food, worst service. Paid over £1,800 for three of us.
Poor quality, smelly meat, small portions. Rather spend £50 in the local restaurant, will be better! Never again! Stay away, its a death trap!
A third added: Avoid like the plague. I travel all over the world conducting my business and have eaten in many many restaurants but this is the worst one yet.
The ones in L.A, Turkey and Dubai are amazing and I couldnt recommend them highly enough but I would never return to Nusr-et in London.
Such was the criticism over the prices that the restaurant put a new more affordable menu in place - although a burger and fries would still put you back £45.
His offerings abroad can be even more expensive, with the celebrity chef sharing an absurd £85,000 bill from his Dubai restaurant earlier this year in which customers spent £56,000 on wine alone.
Salt Bae was known in the food business before becoming a viral sensation, but it was only after a video of him preparing an Ottoman steak in his signature style was shared on Instagram that his career really took off.
The chef was slammed after somehow making his way onto the pitch after the 2022 World Cup final and holding the World Cup trophy
He even bit into one of the winner medals as Argentina celebrated their victory, sparking harsh criticism
He has also been criticised for the prices at his restaurants, with one bill totalling more than £1,800 going viral
The video - which has amassed over 17m views - shows the butcher sprinkling salt on the meat with his hand shaped like a cobra.
Dressed in a white t-shirt and slim-fitting black jeans, the sensual move earned Nusret the title of sexiest butcher on Instagram.
All of my feelings are coming from inside of the meat, he previously told NBC. Down to when I put the salt onto the meat.
However, his antics have bordered on attention seeking at times, and the chef was heavily criticised after he somehow made his way onto the pitch at the World Cup Final in 2022.
In the process he got his hands on the World Cup trophy during Argentinas victory celebrations and even bit one of the winner medals, sparking an investigation by Fifa.
He later said: I cant do anything about the reason I was there, but I would never, ever step on the World Cup pitch again.
There were two billion people watching the World Cup ... How many people are speaking about me? Five billion. The whole world.
Following this he also posted a tone-deaf video bragging about his extravagant lifestyle, showing off his £36million Macka Palace in Istanbul.
He also came under fire for offering a shameless 30 per cent discount on gold-wrapped steaks for students at his restaurant in Boston, USA - despite the final price still coming to more than $1,000.
In an Instagram post in which he posed in front of Harvard Business School, he wrote: I could not go to the school, education is very precious, 30% discount to all students in Boston Nusr_Et restaurant.
However, he was criticised by people on social media who pointed that the average student would never be able to afford the item.
MailOnline has contacted Salt Bae and Nusr-Et Steakhouse for comment.
