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Food Critic Eats Kebab From Local Takeaway Outside Of Salt Bae's London Restaurant

Food Critic Eats Kebab From Local Takeaway Outside Of Salt Bae's London Restaurant

Food critic Jay Rayner decided to opt for an £8.50 kebab rather than try an £850 steak from Salt Bae's London restaurant.

Anish Vij

Anish Vij

Food critic Jay Rayner has taken a stance on Salt Bae's pricey new London restaurant by eating a take-away kebab outside the infamously famous Nusr-Et Steakhouse.

The 55-year-old purchased the £8.50 wrap from the cash-only takeaway 'Kebab Kid', nearby the restaurant.

Whereas, a steak from Salt Bae's - real name Nusret Gökçe - Knightsbridge eatery ranges from £85 to a whopping £1,450.

In a column for The Guardian, Rayner revealed that he even brought his own table, chair and chequered tablecloth to make his message clear.

Jay Rayner/The Guardian

He wrote: "It's a ludicrous gesture, but then the Nusr-Et Steakhouse is a ludicrous restaurant, and one stupid turn deserves another.

"Still, I'm certain that I am eating better than all the customers through the huge wooden doors behind me, spaffing their sticky largesse over gold-leaf wrapped steaks.

"Because my lamb shawarma comes from the legendary Kebab Kid in Parsons Green, and very nice it is, too.

"It was opened by a Greek Cypriot couple, Cos and Yanni, in 1976 and then acquired by the current owners, the Hatch-Barnwells, a decade later. They changed nothing, save to add a couple of dishes.

"It is now run by their son Charles who credits his Indonesian mother with the new recipes. It is takeaway as cult, especially among London cabbies, which naturally means you'll find customer reviews online saying it's not all that."

He then added: "There are now 19 Salt Bae steakhouses worldwide, trading in stupidly expensive steaks, many of them entirely wrapped in gold leaf, flogged to people who should know better.

"They include David Beckham, Leonardo DiCaprio and the Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro. The gold-wrapped burger is £100.

"The gold-wrapped eight-hour short rib is £765. There's the 2kg Tomahawk at £1,450.

"Finish with gold-wrapped baklava for £50. Shortly after the London branch opened, a photograph of a £1,812.40 receipt for a table of six went viral, including £1.40 cans of Red Bull at £11."

Rayner said that some wanted him to visit the expensive restaurant so the food critic could 'take the place apart limb from gold-encrusted limb'.

However, he declined to do so as he claims the newspaper he writes for has 'better things to spend its money on'.

The food critic appeared to be strongly against the excessive use of 'gold' in Salt Bae's restaurant, such as the golden stake/burger, along with the cutlery.

Instagram/@nusr_et

He concluded: "Here's the thing. Some metals are more reactive than others. Never try eating with brass cutlery.

"Your dinner will taste horrid. Stainless steel is great.

"And then there's the least reactive metal of all: gold. Food wrapped in gold will literally taste of nothing, at least at first.

"Weird as it may sound, I like my food to taste of something. Which is why I decide to get mine from Kebab Kid."

Featured Image Credit: Jay Rayner/The Guardian

Topics: restaurants, Food, UK News, London