'Salt Bae' moves to house of 'The Grand Poet'

ISTANBUL

World-renowned Turkish chef Nusret Gökçe, known as the Salt Bae, has moved to an apartment once owned by 20th-century Turkish playwright Abdülhak Hâmid Tarhan, popularly known as “Şair-i Azam” (The Grand Poet).

After spending a year monitoring his 14 restaurants across the globe, Gökçe decided to spend more time in Istanbul.

Moving out of his residence suite in the Beşiktaş district, he moved into the famous Maçka Palace he bought for $50 million in 2019 in the Şişli district.

“He chose to live in a very special apartment in Maçka Palace,” daily Hürriyet reported on Aug. 30.

According to the daily, Gökçe designed the apartment once owned by Tarhan. The author of the famous poem ‘Makber’ died in 1937 in this apartment, it said.

Born in 1852, Tarhan, also nicknamed “Dahi-i Azam” (The Grand Genious), was one of the leading lights of the Turkish Romantic period. Working in Ottoman embassies across Europe, he became a member of the senate in 1908.

After series of internet videos and memes that went viral, 38-year-old Gökçe, who runs Nusr-Et, a chain of luxury steak houses, became famous worldwide for his peculiar way of cutting meat and sprinkling salt over it, which earned him the name “Salt Bae.”