What the French defence could not do in 120 minutes of the final at Doha’s Lusail Stadium, Salt Bae managed to do in seconds – he stole the limelight from Lionel Messi and his Argentinian teammates.
The celebrity chef somehow made it to the pitch, photobombing shots, annoying the players by posing for pictures with them, and even kissed and took a bite of the treasured FIFA World Cup Trophy, something that is not allowed by the world governing body.
So, who exactly is the man who cooked up such a storm on the internet and among football fans?
Here are some facts to know about Salt Bae…
Salt Bae’s real name is Nusret Gökçe. He is a 38-year-old Turkish chef, who shot to fame in 2017 because of his technique of salting his steaks, which became popular internet memes. He owns multiple restaurants in various cities, including Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Literally translated from Turkish, Salt Bae would mean ‘Mr Salt’ or Salt sir’. His restaurant, Nusr-Et, is derived from his name, and the ‘Et’ part is also Trukish for meat.
Salt Bae is an accomplished butcher, an art he learned while working at a butchery in Istanbul after he quit school in sixth grade to help supplement his parent’s income.
He has a special place for Argentina in his heart. He worked in several restaurants in the Latin American country, learning the craft of cooking, especially grilling meat.
Messi has visited Nusr-Et in the past and was hosted by Salt Bae. He even tried out his signature salt-sprinkling move. The video of Messi and Pogba was posted by Nusrat in November 2018.
Salt Bae opened his first restaurant in Istanbul in 2010. His second restaurant was in Dubai in 2014. In November 2017, he opened his first restaurant in the US, in Miami.
People started calling him Salt Bae because of the way he sprinkles salt – Taking a pinch, raising his fingertips to just above his shoulder level, and then dropping it onto the dish via his forearms with a certain flourish.
In September 2018, five people, including Czech internet star Tynus Tresnickova, were injured during a fire show in Nusr-Et Istanbul. The incident happened when a waiter poured gasoline over the fire in front of the bar table and five people got engulfed in the resulting blaze.
In November 2019, Salt Bae was accused of taking share of tips from his employees. He paid $230,000 in out-of-court-settlement after four of his staff members filed a court case. Nusret maintains he fired the four staff members for under-performance and they were just being spiteful.
Salt Bae’s recent launches in the US, especially New York City in early 2019, have been met with savage criticism for its outrageous pricing and underwhelming food. New York Times said “even the mashed potatoes were awful”; Bloomberg called it a “train wreck of a restaurant”, and Time Out said Salt Bae was the “sultan of suckers” and his “steaks are as over-salted as they are overpriced”.
That hasn’t stopped people from visiting Nusr-Et and splurging. This was evident a couple of months ago in Abu Dhabi when this particular bill of AED615,065 (USD167,478) became an internet sensation.
In Dubai, Salt Bae has a Salt Bae Burger joint in DIFC (which offers an eye-watering and wallet-hurting Golden Burger for AED640), and a Nusr-Et in Four Seasons in Jumeirah 2.
Follow us on
