A STEAKHOUSE is going head-to-head with Salt Bae’s London restaurant by also offering diners gold-covered steaks – but for £500 LESS.
Nusret Gökçe, who became an internet sensation as 'Salt Bae', recently opened his 15th restaurant in Knightsbridge where you might catch him tossing seasoning over £630 steaks in the flesh.
The Turkish butcher, restaurateur and human meme whose theatrical steak presentation – immortalised in a 2017 video watched by more than 17 million people – precipitated an unstoppable, 14-site global restaurant empire.
But Brits hoping to visit for dinner might be better advised to book a flight to the eatery in Turkey instead – as the trip would be cheaper.
One receipt posted on Twitter came to £1,812.40 – just under the average UK monthly salary – with the steak costing a whopping £630.
But Relentless Steak and Lobster House in Portsmouth, Hants, is offering their guests a "once in a life time experience" to eat "the most on trend steak on Instagram" which weighs 1.2kg.
Scott Matthews, who owns the independent restaurant, thinks Salt Bae is "taking the mick" and must be making a huge profit on his gilded steaks – especially as they "probably taste the same".
The 35 year old father of three said: "A lot of places won't do it because it costs three times the cost of the meat to gold-leaf it – we put 20 to 25 leaves on each.
"We saw Salt Bae's restaurant and we thought they're taking the mick there. For him, that's got to be about £500 profit in each steak.
"I know London is a bit more expensive but £500 more for one steak?
“It's exactly the same here really – they use the same kind of meat by-products from where we get ours from.
"We follow everything on trend and we put it straight on our menu.
“A few years ago when Halloumi fries were popular, we were one of the first in the country to have them.
"We carve it in front of them and let the customers take their Instagram pictures with the bone – we always say 'you'll be an Instagram star now'. It's working really well.
"It's bringing that 'wow' factor with everyone in the restaurant looking at you. If I'm honest, they probably taste the same as normal steaks."
The tomahawk can feed two people, with 34oz of meat on the bone.
Mr Matthews, of Emsworth, Hants, who sold ten in just five hours last weekend, continued: "Everyone is seeing all the celebrities eating this steak, now the average person can afford it, if they want to spend that."
Adorning the meat is a laborious process, it is left to rest to ensure no blood is dripping out before it is covered in gold by two chefs which takes around 15 minutes.
Mr Matthews added: "It takes a while to make them – they are fiddly. In Salt Bae's restaurant, they've probably got one person who specifically is in charge of gold-leafing it while one of the waiters goes out to do the show."
TV personality Gemma Collins said she felt "sick" after spending £1,450 at Salt Bae's high-end restaurant.
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