Some British Chefs Spoof 'Salt Bae' With Their Own Gold-Covered Entrées

Nusret Gökçe, the Instagram-famous chef better known as "Salt Bae," opened one of his Nusr-Et Steakhouses in London last month, and some of the menu prices have caused jaws to drop on both sides of the Atlantic. One alleged customer's receipt went viral after their four-person dinner party paid £37,023 ($50,888) for a meal at the restaurant.

Although that $50k-dinner tab included over $40,000 worth of wine — Pétrus doesn't come cheap — it also included Salt Bae's signature entrée, a 24-carat gold tomahawk steak, that rings up at over $1,100.

But one British butcher and steakhouse owner has decided that if that's what people want, he's going to give it to them at a fraction of the cost. According to The Guardian, John Stirk has created his own version of the thousand-dollar dish, and he's offering it for £100 ($136.50). The "Stirk-Bae" is a 38 ounce, gold-encrusted Tomahawk steak, and it's available at both the Stirks Italian Steakhouse in Belmont, England, and the one in Sunderland.

"For me it was about showing that the gold-covered steak could be done cheaper and could be done better. It doesn't have to cost the earth," he told the outlet, adding that the reaction to the Stirk-Bae has been "out of this world" so far. Between the two restaurants, they sold around 40 of the flashy steaks last weekend alone. And, unlike that other gold steak, the Stirk-Bae is served with four side dishes and four different sauces.

Stirk isn't the only northerner who's taking aim at Nusr-Et's price points. Last week, Gareth Mason started serving a gold leaf-wrapped version of his pork pies. Mason, who is the head chef at Absolute Bar and Bistro, sells his 24-carat pies for £12.50 ($17.10) and you can even get some gold French fries to go with it.

"It just shows that wrapping food in gold is sheer stupidity," he told the Manchester Evening News. "There's no price that can justify it. It adds nothing at all to the food, it tastes of nothing and it just dissolves on contact. It's just a gimmick for appearances."

Well, covering your dinner in gold can add one thing: a lot of zeroes on the final bill.