Salt Bae fans shocked after hearing him speak for the 'first time'

Although we might have seen him throwing salt left, right and centre, for some reason a lot of us haven't heard Salt Bae open his mouth much.

So you can understand why a lot of people were quite taken aback when they heard the Turkish butcher and chef - real name Nusret Gökçe - speak for the 'first time' in an Instagram post. Take a look at this:

As you can see, Salt Bae was sending all of his fans a sweet message before ringing in the New Year back in 2022.

But rather than being left swooning over the contents of the festive video that he shared on social media, his 53.4 million followers were distracted by his voice which they have apparently never heard before.

Thanking his fans for their unwavering support, Gökçe said in the clip: "Hi, everyone! I am so proud of myself because we did it. 2022: our best, best year. I hope again, more and more. 2023: our best year.

"I wish all the best. Happy New Year. I love you all. I am extremely happy because of you. Welcome 2023. We are ready, waiting for you."

Captioning the clip, he added: "Thanks to you we are who we are!! Motivation organisation operation 2023."

People said they had never heard Salt Bae speak before. (Instagram/@nusr_et)

As we all already know, seen as though it's now been nearly two years since he uploaded that video, Salt Bae is still going strong and he did have a pretty decent year, as he had predicted.

I mean, it couldn't have got much worse than him being branded a 'pitch invader' by frustrated football fans after he muscled in on Argentina's moment after they won the 2022 FIFA World Cup Final over France, could it?

He had nowhere to go but up, to put it frankly.

And although we were all left well aware that he's very sure of himself after watching him hound the likes of Lionel Messi, Angel Di Maria and Lisandro Martinez, it seems loads of people had no idea what his voice sounded like.

A quick scroll through the comment section of his New Year's post will let you in on the fact that a lot of Salt Bae's supporters thought he was something of a mute.

Salt Bae ruffled a few feathers at the 2022 World Cup. (Lars Baron/Getty Images)

One stunned social media user wrote: "Didn't know he could speak!"

"Holy s**t he can talk," another added, as a third said: "I thought that you can't speak."

While a fourth claimed it was the ‘first time’ they had ever heard his 'voice'.

And a fifth chimed in: "Bro, I'm obsessed with your voice."

Obviously, this wasn't really the first time that Salt Bae had used his vocal chords on a public platform, but most of his videos are accompanied by music, or he purposely stays silent to perform the perfect salt sprinkle.

I mean, don't you remember him getting roasted for the way he says avocado?

The viral star is still going strong...and still rubbing shoulders with football greats, but this time it's with José Mourinho off the pitch. (Instagram/@nusr_et)

The celebrity chef - who turns 40 today (9 August) - rose to fame thanks to his signature technique with the white stuff which usually accompanies pepper, that first went viral back in 2017.

Becoming a meme worked out really well for Salt Bae, as it led to people flocking from around the world to dine at one of his luxury steak houses - which has since welcomed a string of stars such as Leonardo DiCaprio.

His restaurant chain, Nusr-Et, now has 20 branches around the globe, including in Turkey, Mykonos, New York, Miami, London and Dubai.

Following his astronomical rise to success, Gökçe revealed he had been grafting since he was just 12-years-old, leaving school and starting work as a butcher's apprentice to help out his family with money.

These days, his customers are racking up bills to the tune of a whopping £85,000 while dining in his Nusr-Et restaurant - so it's safe to say he's made it.