NUSRET Gökçe started life in a small poverty-stricken neighbourhood, but now calls a mega £36million mansion his home.
The chef’s luxury hotel boasts a rooftop pool, gym and a spa – and best of all is you can stay there too.
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Salt Bae, 39, who runs a global restaurant empire, splashed out £36million on the famed Macka Palace in the Sisli district of Istanbul.
The Instagram star had spending two years running his restaurants around the globe but announced at the time that he wanted to spend more time in the Turkish city near tohis mother and childhood home.
In 2019 he moved into an apartment within the palace which was once owned by 20th-century playwright Abdülhak Hâmid Tarhan, popularly known in Turkey as the Grand Poet.
Although the star kept quite about his own abode, the five-star property boasts total of 90 generously sized deluxe rooms and suites – with prices starting at around £350.
According to the website the hotel fills the guest with “unexpected pleasures” and unsurprisingly claims to have “he finest food and beverage facilities” including all-day dining at Salt Baes exclusive restaurant.
When Gökçe moved into the plush pad he claimed he had fulfilled a “dream” and reportedly went about remodelling the grand hotel restaurant to his own liking such as his famous oft-Instagram med golden steak.
He wrote on Instagram: “I had one dream which was to have my own restaurant at my own hotel thank god one of my biggest dream coming true.
“See you at Nusret Maçka Palace.”
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Outside his homeland, Gökçe is also thought to have built up his property portfolio with homes in the US, where he is often pictured by a private pool in Beverly Hills, as well as riding horses on what looks like a ranch.
And he reportedly has an enviable supercar collection including three Rolls-Royces and a Lamborghini Hurracan.
It is a far cry from his childhood – which was reportedly so poor he had to drop out of school aged 12.
Nusret’s rags-to-riches story began in a poverty-stricken suburb east of Instanbul, Turkey.
He was one of five children whose miner father spent months away working.
Speaking to The Times in 2019, Nusret said he often went to school wearing shoes and shirts that didn’t fit as his parents could afford anything else.
He claims his family took him out of school so he could help earn money and at 13 he was taken on as a butcher’s apprentice.
He recalled: “I woke up at six o’clock, two hours on the train commute and 30 minutes after the train in the bus.
“Then all day long, standing and working. No day off and no vacation.”
He also worked in steakhouses, washing dishes to work his way up from the bottom.
He told NBC in 2017: “Since I was 14, I worked more than 13 hours a day as a kitchen runner for a butcher.
“I was always wishing and wishing to open up a restaurant.”
Later he convinced a bank to lend him £2,500 so he could travel to Argentina to learn about the meat trade.
After years when he claims he “worked for free” to gain experience, he returned to his home city Istanbul.
And at the age of 27, he opened his first Nusr-Et steakhouse in 2010 with just eight tables and ten employees.
Turkish tycoon Ferit Sahenk was so impressed he offered to invest, and helped Nusr-et launched outposts in Ankara and Dubai.
Sexiest butcher on Instagram
But his career did not really take off until a monster hit viral video of his now-famous “sprinkle” in January 2017.
A 36-second Instagram video called Ottoman Steak showed Gökçe theatrically slicing steak at a table.
Then holding his hand in a “cobra” pose he lets salt flow down his forearm to season the meat.
Bruno Mars tweeted the video, which instantly went viral and earned Gökçe the title of “sexiest butcher on Instagram”.
The gimmick also earned him the nickname Salt Bae – and millions of followers on Instagram.
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