Salt Bae restaurant charging nearly £700 for a steak cuts heating to save cash | UK cost of living crisis

It may charge nearly £700 for its most expensive steak but even flamboyant condiment-sprinkling chef Salt Bae’s London restaurant has been forced to turn off the heating amid soaring energy bills.

Nusr-Et Steakhouse, the outlet at the Park Tower hotel in Knightsbridge known for expensive dishes such as £680 wagyu striploin or £630 giant tomahawk steak, said it had made an effort to cut costs despite recording a jump in profits.

The company – founded by the flamboyant Salt Bae, the Turkish butcher turned steak-monger Nusret Gökçe behind the brand – said pre-tax profits rose 44% to almost £3.3m in 2022 as sales soared almost 66% to £13.6m in accounts filed this week at Companies House.

Owners of the London outpost, described by the Observer critic Jay Rayner as a “ludicrous restaurant”, received dividends of £2.8m up from almost £2m a year before.

The restaurant, which launched in 2021, has cut its prices in recent years and ditched signature items such as the £1,450 gold-covered steak during the cost of living crisis. The only gold-covered item currently on the menu, once glittering with gilded meat, is a £50 pistachio baklava.

In its accounts, the group said it had “sought to improve energy efficiency at an operational level” with efforts including “turning off central heating after closing or during peak hours when heating demand is lower” and turning off lights during closing hours. The group said it had also tried limiting the operational hours of the “air curtain” – the system used to prevent drafts through doors.

It said it was “committed to operational efficiency” and its renovation of the London restaurant included LED lights and “energy saving insulation”.

Energy prices soared during 2022 as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushed up wholesale gas prices. Businesses have attempted to counter the rise in bills: retailers dimmed lights and cut temperatures, while restaurants and pubs have cut staffing hours, simplified menus or been forced to shut.

Businesses also struggled with rising bills and problems related to Covid and Brexit during 2022.

However, the directors of Nusret UK said the restaurant group, which is controlled by the Turkish conglomerate Doğuş Group, said it had performed better than predicted in the last three months of 2021, when the Omicron variant of Covid-19 affected the hospitality industry, and in line with expectations in 2022.

Fans, who reportedly include David Beckhamand Leonardo DiCaprio, are attracted partly by the chance to meet Salt Bae. He has gathered almost 54 million Instagram followers after he shot to fame via a video of him completing his elaborate steak-salting move while sporting a tight white T-shirt and dark glasses.

Shortly after the London branch opened, a photograph of a £1,812.40 receipt for a table of six, including selling £1.40 cans of Red Bull for £11, went viral. The furore helped the restaurant take £7m in its first three months after opening.

However, Salt Bae’s social media star has dimmed more recently, with a backlash after he gained “undue access” to the pitch after the World Cup final in Qatar in 2022.

Last year, Salt Bae’s Manhattan burger joint closed, three years after it was declared “the worst restaurant in NYC right now”.