I think Salt Bae needs no introduction. He is the internet sensation from Turkey that has grabbed the attention of the whole world. Celebrities such as David Beckham, Leonardo DiCaprio, Lionel Messi and Jason Statham have dined at this infamous steakhouse. His newly opened steakhouse in London last year (2021) brought upon a lot of negative press and attention. At the back end of last year, we visited one of his steakhouses. Don’t worry though it was not the London branch; we visited the Istanbul branch (Nusr-Et Steakhouse Sandal Bedesteni). Read on to find out more.
Nusret Salt Bae
The most famous butcher and restauranteur in the world right now? Nusret Gökçe was born in Erzurum. Due to family reasons, at the age of 11-12 he started to work as a butcher’s apprentice in Kadikoy, the Asian side of Istanbul. In 2017, a video of his got 10 million views on Instagram and this gave him the title Salt Bae and the viral status. This resulted in an evident amount of success and fame for Nusret. The power of social media ey? As of 2021, Nusret has opened branches of his luxury steakhouse in Turkey, Greece, the United States, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. With fame comes criticism and there hasn’t be a shortage of that. A GQ writer called the New York branch’s steak mundane and others called the same branch overpriced. The London branch, don’t get me started on the London branch, it opened last year (2021) and it received a lot of bad press and negative reviews (you can check the hilarious ones on Google Maps) due to its extortionate prices e.g. this £37,000 bill… (read more). I mean that is an extreme example, but most definitely you’re looking to spend near a grand on your visit to the London branch. Ridiculous!
Nusr-Et Steakhouse Sandal Bedesteni (the Grand Bazaar Istanbul branch)
The Grand Bazaar is considered one of if not the oldest and first covered markets in the world. Dating back to 1455, there is an immense amount of history in this place and an absolute must visit when in the city (read more here). Knowing this history, you appreciate the feat that Nusret has achieved by opening a steakhouse in the same building and under the same roof as the Grand Bazaar! Impressive! So, on our recent trip to Istanbul, we of course had to visit. Was it for the delicious food? Probably not. I think more so a tick off the bucket list kind of thing.
We ordered:
New York Steak
Chips
Coke
Our experience:
Unfortunately, we had already eaten at a couple places prior to this and that is why we didn’t order more. However, this was a reasonable amount I think. Firstly, as you enter the restaurant, you see a life-size figure of the man himself, Salt Bae! People were queuing up to take selfies with “him”. To each their own I guess. The restaurant was packed, very busy, there was a bit of a queue, but we were seated in no time actually (maybe because there were only two of us). Our order was taken promptly, and in no time our food arrived too.
Let’s talk about the theatre and the food now as let’s face it we can’t separate the two in this restaurant. You are also paying for the theatre and the drama that comes with the food. So, the server came with the steak, placed in front of us, cut into peaces and sprinkled salt over it (in the style of Salt Bae) – did we know what to expect? Yes. Was it underwhelming? Maybe a little. Did it get us a little excited? Damn right it did! I like theatre, drama and a little bit of a show being put on when dining out, so I appreciated it. I mean not worthy of £1000 of course.
Now, the steak itself. We actually asked for it to be medium (wife’s preference), but they gave us medium rare / rare… anyway… slightly disappointing considering they classify themselves as a premium steakhouse – you should be able to get orders right and in particular the one aspect of a steak that you need to pay attention to when cooking. How do you get this wrong!? Nonetheless, my personal preference would’ve been medium rare anyway, so I did enjoy. The wife liked it too to be fair. But it is quite annoying how you pay premium prices but they got the most basic fundamental thing wrong. So, yeah we did enjoy the steak and it was a good steak, but was it the best steak ever? No. Was it something super memorable and I’d recommend to everyone at home? No. It was just a decent steak, a decent night out. That’s it. Nothing more nothing less.
The price
The best thing about the whole meal was the price… in London this same meal would’ve cost us £120 for the steak, £9 for the chips and £6 per for the coke. In Istanbul, it set us back… just under £30 for the whole meal! It was still double or more what we paid for at the other places we ate at, but yeah can’t complain with a £30 meal at Nusr-et.
Overall, I wouldn’t recommend anyone to go out of their way to try out this restaurant. But if they haven’t experience a Salt Bae steakhouse before and they wanted to, I’d definitely recommend this Istanbul branch. You get the exact same food, but for the fraction of the price. Some would call it a steal!
Getting There:
Google Maps Location link: click here
