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Salt Bae is a Turkish butcher, chef, and food entertainer. He is the owner of the restaurant Nusr-Et Steakhouse, based out of Abu Dhabi. In January 2017, he rose to fame after a video of him, while preparing and seasoning steak, went viral and became an iconic meme.
Wiki/Biography
Nusret Gökçe aka Salt Bae was born on Tuesday, 9 August 1983 (age 39 years; as of 2022) in Pasali, Turkey. His zodiac sign is Leo. He did his schooling up to 5th standard at Darıca Faik Şahenk Secondary School. Due to the insufficient finances of his home, Nusret’s parents forced him to quit school. In an Instagram post, he revealed that he went to school for five years only. At the age of 2, he migrated from Erzurum to Darıca with his family.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 6″
Weight (approx.): 70 kg
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Black
Body Measurements (approx.): Chest: 40 inches, Waist: 28 inches, Biceps: 14 inches
Family
He belongs to a Kurdish family.
Parents & Siblings
His father, Faik Gökçe, is a mineworker and is married to Fatma Gökçe.
Nusret has three brothers named Özgür Gökçe, Erman Gökçe, and Ugur Gökce, who are Turkish chefs and restaurateurs. He also has a sister.
Wife
He is unmarried.
Career
After he dropped out of school, he worked as a butcher’s apprentice in the Kadıköy district of Istanbul. After many years of odd jobs, Nusret evolved as a chef by bringing in the experience he earned in several countries including Argentina and the United States between 2007 and 2010. In between those years, he worked in restaurants for free only to gain experience. Apart from being a butcher’s apprentice, he used to wash dishes as well. In an interview, he revealed that he used to work 18 hours a day.
In 2010, he returned to Turkey and established his own restaurant, Nusr-Et, which is now a chain of luxury steak houses in many countries including Turkey, Greece, the United States, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. Nusret’s audience online went crazy after he posted multiple videos of him preparing and presenting food on his social media platforms including Instagram and YouTube.
Facts/Trivia
- He was only 23 years old when he established his own restaurant Nusr-Et in Istanbul. The restaurant’s prefix stands for his real name ‘Nusret’ and the suffix ‘et’ means meat in the Turkish language.
- Nusret took financial aid to set up his restaurant from the Turkish businessman Ferit Sahenk, who later helped him open several chains of ‘Nusret-Et’ in several cities including Ankara, Dubai, and Doha.
- In 2014, Nusret-Et Brand was awarded the Star Diamond Award by the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences.
- When Nusret visited butchers and restaurants in Argentina, he did not have enough pocket money and withdrew 7000 Turkish Liras ( 1 TL = 4.38 INR) from his credit card only to get an idea of how the meat mincing business works.
- In an interview, he revealed that he obtained a three-month U.S. visa under many difficulties.
- While Nusret was working at one of New York’s finest restaurants, his menu was published in the New York Times.
- On 28 December 2022, a TikTok user posted a video in which he slammed Salt Bae’s restaurant in Qatar and accused him of being ‘disrespectful.’ In the video, the chef was wearing Air Pods as he carved up a steak tableside in his signature style. The customer, who paid £500 for the meal, was left unimpressed when he noticed that Salt Bae was on call, chatting to someone, while he was presenting the food to them, and rated the restaurant 1.7 out of 10.
- On 21 December 2022, Salt Bae got banned from the 2023 U.S. Open Cup Final after he approached Lionel Messi for a quick snap on the ground when Argentina players were celebrating their victory at the FIFA World Cup 2022 final in Doha against France. The U.S. Open Cup tweeted on Twitter and wrote,
Salt Bae is hereby banned from the 2023 @opencup Final.”
He’s a dive pic.twitter.com/O8QxDXUyBx
— Mark. UTFR🍻🇾🇪 (@Mark1975s) December 21, 2022
- Salt Bae violated FIFA World Cup 2022 rules and posed with other Argentina players while holding the trophy.
- In September 2018, Týnuš Třešničková, a Czech internet personality, became a victim of a failed fire show in the Nusr-Et steakhouse in Istanbul, resulting in 35% total body surface area burns; four other guests faced minor body burns.
- Nusret is a fitness enthusiast and often shares his fitness regimen on social media.
- He follows a non-vegetarian diet and loves to smoke cigars occasionally. In an interview, while talking about his daily workout, he revealed that he preferred boxing and body-weight work and said,
It gives me the definition and core strength I want. A lot of jumping rope, ropes, anything to not only stimulate muscle but also keep me quick. I have to be fast in the kitchen.”