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Salt Bae’s London restaurant has made £7m in just four months despite getting hammered by everyone

Salt Bae's London restaurant has made £7m in just four months despite getting hammered by everyone

Salt Bae’s restaurant in London has reported an impressive £7 million ($8.55m) in sales in its first four months of trading despite receiving poor reviews and criticism over its prices.

All it took was one customer purchasing one of the restaurant’s gold leaf-covered steaks and a bottle of wine.

Okay, admittedly it took a little bit more than that, but the infamously high prices at the restaurant will no doubt have gone a long way in helping the Nusr-Et Steakhouse in Knightsbridge earn into the millions within its first few months.

The restaurant, owned by viral sensation Salt Bae (Nusret Gökçe), opened its doors in September 2021 before revealing its takings in a financial report filed to the UK’s Companies House.

The report revealed that the company brought in £7m in its first four months of trading, with an overall profit of £2.3m ($2.79m) in the year to December.

Nusret UK Limited, which owns the restaurant and is controlled by the Turkish conglomerate Doğuş Group, said the Knightsbridge location had ‘performed higher than the expected results’ in spite of the impacts of coronavirus on the hospitality industry.

The high earnings also come in spite of the mixed reviews the restaurant has received, with its rating on Google coming in at just 2.9 stars and a TripAdvisor rating placing it among the worst places to eat in London.

Reviews from customers have been varied, with some praising the food, atmosphere and overall experience while others just can’t get over the prices, which according to receipts shared by customers include £18 asparagus, £11 Red Bulls and a staggering £850 steak .

One review from a not-so-impressed customer reads: “Bang average for what it’s supposed to be….I went with the intention of hoping I’d have at least a half decent experience. But slow service, average food, with the ridiculous price they charge for what they’re giving… in short, if you can avoid going, definitely do so.”

Another says: “Not even mentioning the money I knew where I was going but service and food are not worth it. Getting food before drinks, stake [sic] was very good but had better in GAUCHO for half the price and with better wine selection. Don’t get the fuss around this… maybe superficial reasons for the rich to feel rich. my macdonald’s [sic] after was great tho.”

Though the restaurant obviously isn’t for everyone, it’s at least received enough praise to edge it towards a three-star rating on Google, and there are a number of five-star ratings from customers who were blown away by their experiences. Plus, the report of his earnings indicates it’s not doing too badly either way, so for once Salt Bae will probably have no issue ignoring the saltiness.

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Categories
Entertainment

Rushdie in hospital as outrage grows over stabbing

Rushdie in hospital as outrage grows over stabbing

Salman Rushdie remained hospitalized in serious condition Saturday after being stabbed at a literary event in New York state in a shocking assault that triggered widespread international outrage, but drew applause from hardliners in Iran and Pakistan.

The British author, who spent years under police protection after Iranian leaders ordered his killing, underwent emergency surgery and was placed on a ventilator in a Pennsylvania hospital following Friday’s assault. His agent said he will likely lose an eye.

“Salman Rushdie — with his insight into humanity, with his unmatched sense for story, with his refusal to be intimidated or silenced — stands for essential, universal ideals. Truth. Courage. Resilience,” Biden said in a statement.

On Friday, a 24-year-old man from New Jersey, Hadi Matar, rushed the stage where Rushdie was about to deliver a lecture and stabbed him in the neck and abdomen.

Beyond Rushdie’s eye injury, the nerves in one of his arms were severed and his liver was damaged, according to his agent Andrew Wylie.

The fatwa followed publication of the novel “The Satanic Verses,” which sparked fury among some Muslims who believed it was blasphemous.

“For whatever it was, eight or nine years, it was quite serious,” he told a Stern correspondent in New York.

– Assailant raised in US –

Security was not particularly tight at Friday’s event at the Chautauqua Institution, which hosts arts programs in a tranquil lakeside community near Buffalo.

Matar’s family apparently came from a border village called Yaroun in southern Lebanon.

Matar was “born and raised in the US,” the head of the local municipality, Ali Qassem Tahfa, told AFP.

“I was very happy to hear the news,” said Mehrab Bigdeli, a man in his 50s studying to become a Muslim cleric.

In Pakistan, a spokesman for the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan –- a party that has staged violent protests against what it deems to be anti-Muslim blasphemy — said Rushdie “deserved to be killed.”

British leader Boris Johnson said he was “appalled,” while Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the attack “reprehensible” and “cowardly.”

– Write memoir in hiding –

But his 1988 book “The Satanic Verses” transformed his life. The resulting fatwa forced him into nearly a decade in hiding, moving houses repeatedly and being unable to tell even his children of him where he lived.

Since moving to New York, Rushdie has been an outspoken advocate of freedom of speech and has continued writing — including a memoir, “Joseph Anton,” named after his alias while in hiding.

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Categories
Business

Inflation-fighting BoE poised to unleash big rate hike

Inflation-fighting BoE poised to unleash big rate hike

The Bank of England is expected Thursday to follow other major central banks with an aggressive interest rate hike to tackle surging inflation.

The BoE is tipped to lift its main rate by 0.50 percentage points — the biggest amount in more than a quarter of a century.

With inflation spiking globally following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank sprang large hikes last month of 0.75 and 0.50 percentage points respectively.

“After the ECB and the Fed delivered oversized hikes at their July meetings, the Bank of England is likely to feel similar pressure to up the ante at its August meeting,” said BNP Paribas economist Amarjot Sidhu in a note to clients.

The BoE, granted operational independence from the government over monetary policy in 1997, will reveal its latest rate decision at 1100 GMT on Thursday alongside its latest outlook.

That would take borrowing costs to 1.75 percent, at a level last seen in December 2008.

Inflation has also raced higher on supply-chain woes, including labor market shortages in the wake of Brexit, and strong demand for goods and services as the Covid pandemic recedes.

Yet the bank predicts UK inflation will spike to 11 percent later this year — and it was expected to lift this guidance on Thursday.

That could take the average UK household energy bill above £3,000 ($3,600) per year.

“Higher inflation for even longer is the kind of scenario that spooks central banks.”

Economists meanwhile argue that a large rate hike damages the nation’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic — and risks the prospect of recession.

“The… anticipated hike would be harmful to the economy and pile on the pain for people across the country,” said Nigel Green, deVere’s boss of financial consultants.

Until now, the BoE has not hiked its rates by more than 0.25 percentage points each time.

Liz Truss is currently ahead in the polls against fellow Conservative and former finance minister Rishi Sunak.

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