Turkish chef Nusret Gokce aka Salt Bae sparks outrage with ₹800 charge for Sprite, netizens slam ’overpriced’ menu

Remember the Turkish chef Nusret Gokce – known as Salt Bae – who used to do magic with salt and became an internet sensation due to his steak-salting method in 2017! Yes, he is in the news again, and this time because his restaurant Nusr-Et priced a Sprite for $10 (approximately ₹800), exceeding its market value by over tenfold.

Often Nusr-Et has been under critics' radar after frequent complaints for excessive pricing. Critics also condemned his restaurant for their excessive emphasis on presentation rather than food quality.

In a recent post on X, a video depicting Nusret Gokce preparing a steak at one of his restaurants garnered attention. However, apart from this, the social media user also posted an alleged cost breakdown of a bill.

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According to the video posted online, a Sprite was priced at $10, while a dish called 'Golden Tomahawk,' a beef steak wrapped in gold foil was priced at $1000 (approximately ₹83,000), reported NDTV.

Following the video went viral, it sparked widespread outrage among internet users.

One individual wrote, "Overpriced garbage for the uninformed."

Not only this, netizens even criticized Nusret Gokce's steak preparation techniques, citing he didn't sanitize a steel knife before slicing the meat.

"As a chef what bothers me most is he immediately broke one of the biggest knife skill safety standards out there, bro forgot to wipe down the knife after refining the edge with the steel, people don't steel shavings in their food," the user wrote.

Another user commented, "There's a reason his restaurants started failing en masse once the TikTok trenders got bored. Hot take but gold foil on food is usually a clear sign the chef is pretentious and not as talented. Does nothing for taste and just increases the price of food superficially."

Not the first time:

This is not the first time that Nusret Gokce's restaurant has been criticized. In 2022, an X user shared a picture of a bill from Salt Bae's restaurant in London, whose bill touched ₹1,88,000.

Posting the image of this bill, the X user commented, "Opting for a flight to Salt Bae's Turkish restaurant and dining there is more economical than visiting the one in London. 9 pounds for a Coke. 630 pounds for a Tomahawk steak. No, thank you."

The 39-year-old chef reposted the receipt of the bill in response.

Rise to fame:

Nusret Gokce rose to fame in 2017, after his quirky look with a white shirt and sunglasses and using salt to season his steak became an overnight success.

Several memes followed and he used the fame to his full advantage and now he has his chain of restaurants all across major cities globally.