Trendy restaurants around the world are known for overcharging for basic dishes, but now an alleged bill that belonged to Turkish chef Nusret Gökçe’s restaurant is earning the ire of foodies. Nusret Gökçe became a viral meme in 2017 for his bizarre salt-sprinkling style on a steak. He then went on to open Nusr-Et, a chain of luxury steakhouses. In recent years, people have often complained that Nusr-Et is extremely overpriced. People have also criticised the restaurants for being extravagant in terms of presentation only and low on food quality. Recently, an X user shared a video that showed Nusret Gökçe preparing a steak and salting it at a table in one of his restaurants in his signature style. Below this clip, the X user also shared an alleged cost breakdown of a bill at a Nusr-Et outlet.
As per this cost breakup, a Sprite was priced at $10 (approximately Rs 800), more than 10 times its market value. A dish called ‘Golden Tomahawk”, which is a gold foil-covered beef steak, was priced at $1000 (approximately Rs 83,000).
A concerned citizen posted this cost breakdown. Ten bucks for a SPRITE????? pic.twitter.com/A1fBZnjj4y— South Dallas Foodie (@SouthDallasFood) November 15, 2023
This cost break-up caused much outrage among netizens. A person described these prices as “Overpriced garbage for people who don’t know any better.”
People also criticised the way Nusret Gökçe prepared the steak in the above-mentioned video. A self-confessed chef pointed out that Nusret Gökçe sharpened a steel knife over the table and did not clean it before using it to cut meat. He wrote, “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.”
Another person opined, “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.”
In September 2021, an X user shared a picture of a bill from Nusr-Et’s London branch. The bill totaled £1,812, approximately Rs 1,88,000. While sharing the photo of this bill, the X user wrote, “It’s cheaper to fly and have food at Salt Bae’s Turkish restaurant than to go to the London one. £9 for coke. £630 for Tomahawk steak. No thank you.”
It’s cheaper to fly and have food at Salt Bae’s Turkish restaurant than to go to the London one. £9 for coke. £630 for Tomahawk steak. No thank you. pic.twitter.com/PufkwKzthM— Muttaqi (@Omnimojo) September 27, 2021
In response to such “overpriced” allegations, the 39-year-old chef shared the receipt of a bill from his Abu Dhabi restaurant that totaled over Rs. 1.36 crore. He captioned this photo, “Quality never expensive”.
As of 2021, Nusr-Et has outlets in Greece, Turkey, USA, UK, UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. The name of his restaurant chain ‘Nusr-Et’ comes from his own name ‘Nusret’ and “Et”, which means “meat” in Turkish.