Salt Bae’s NY Eatery Nurs-Et to Close; Will London’s Branch Be Next?
With his New York branch of Nurs-Et set to close and his London restaurant facing a deluge of bad reviews – it’s possible Salt Bae’s empire could be beginning to crumble. While a sign on the door states the venue is ‘moving to a new location’, a spokesperson for the restaurant, founded by Nusret Gökçe, revealed the menu would actually just be served at an existing steakhouse belonging to the brand.
Gökçe, better known as Salt Bae, went viral on social media in 2017 for his theatrical salt-sprinkling antics which have earned him more than 38 million followers on Instagram. But with the NYC restaurant closing, many are sure to now be wondering if the London dining room has had its day and will shut up shop, too, especially seeing as it has been heavily criticised since opening.
Since its launch in 2019, the Instagram-favourite experience has been inundated with negative reviews and hit the headlines over its pricey menu. Two years after the Knightsbridge restaurant opened, the eatery had received a slew of bad reviews on TripAdvisor, ranking it at number 20,491 out of 23,811 in all of London.
Gökçe, who has been nicknamed Salt Bae by fans, currently has 17 restaurants in his successful chain and has a legion of celebrity devotees including DJ Khaled, Leonardo DiCaprio and David Beckham.
He has oft been spotted slicing meat for customers in his London restaurant, where specials include a Golden Giant Tomahawk steak for £1,450, Golden Giant Striplion for £1,350 and Golden Kafes for £500, and regularly posed for snaps with customers.
Despite the backlash, the controversial Nusr-Et restaurant in London did initially prove to be a hit with diners, making a reported £7 million in sales in its first four months. Salt Bae Burger New York opened at 220 Park Avenue South, near Union Square Park, just a month before the pandemic closed restaurants to indoor dining.
The restaurant was soon slammed as having ‘all the charm of an aeroplane hangar’ with critics saying its food was overpriced. One Gothamist food critic added it was the ‘worst restaurant’ in New York City. The brand was a follow-up to Mr Gökçe’s Nusr-Et steakhouse, a famed restaurant with over 20 locations around the world.
But the parent company was hit with multiple lawsuits accusing it of sexual harassment and wage theft. In 2020, Nusr-Et’s CEO Al Avci said there was ‘no problem whatsoever’ at the company’s restaurants. Although Salt Bae had made a name for himself in the restaurant business, his life changed overnight in 2017 when he shared a video of himself preparing an Ottoman steak in his signature style on Instagram.
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 told NBC. ‘Down to when I put the salt onto the meat.’ He also sparked outrage last year when he appeared on the pitch after the World Cup final, celebrating with Lionel Messi and his teammates and even holding the iconic trophy.
