With his salt gesture, “Salt Bae” became an internet star, and in real life he opened dozens of meat restaurants. Now he had to close one of them again.
Butcher Nusret Gökçe became famous with a single hand movement, and it goes like this: bend your right arm, push your elbow forward strongly – and then let the salt trickle onto the fresh meat. His signature look: black sunglasses and white, tight-fitting shirts.
In social media he was celebrated as “Salt Bae”, in January 2017 his gesture went viral – and from then on his success could hardly be stopped. He opened restaurants in the US, Dubai, Great Britain, Turkey and sold milk shakes for $99 and steaks covered in gold leaf for several hundred euros. He also has a vegetarian “ladies’ burger” with pink buns on offer. “Turning meat into works of art,” he calls it online on his website.
But now the 39-year-old Gökçe has to cope with a setback. He closed his Nusr-Et-Burger restaurant in Manhattan in early June, according to Eater magazine. It had previously received scathing reviews, including being called “the worst restaurant in New York”. According to “Business Insider”, the restaurant only opened in 2020, shortly before the outbreak of the corona pandemic.
“Salt Bae” has to close a branch in New York
However, the closure does not mean a complete withdrawal from the US metropolis. So Gökçe has another branch in a prime location between Rockefeller Center and Central Park.
The sports elite should gather there in the future. On the “Nusr-Et” website, Gökçe likes to show up with celebrities who come to eat with him.
Soccer stars Lionel Messi and Paul Pogba have already been his guests. Franck Ribéry also ate in a branch in Dubai in 2019 – and ate steaks for 1200 euros, which led to a big debate and the question at the time: Should football professionals really show how extravagant and pretentious they live? ()
Despite the setback, Gökçe should be able to rely on his fans. He has 52 million followers on Instagram alone, and a post from him likes to get a six-digit number of likes there.
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Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
