Salt Bae’s restaurant in central London turned off the heating amid soaring energy bills, despite charging almost £700 for its most expensive steak.
Nusr-Et steakhouse at the Park Tower hotel in Knightsbridge was once famed for serving gold-plated steak costing up to £1,450.
It no longer sells the gold covered cut but still charges eye-watering prices including £680 wagyu striploins and £630 giant tomahawk steaks.
Pre-tax profits at Nusret UK founded by flamboyant Bae, 40, whose real name is Nusret Gökçe, rose 44 per cent to almost £3.3million in 2022.
According to the Guardian, sales soared almost 66 per cent to £13.6m in accounts filed this week at Companies House.
However, the restaurant 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 switching off lights during closing hours.
It had also tried limiting the operational hours of the “air curtain”, a method to prevent draughts through doors.
Nusret UK said it was “committed to operational efficiency” and its renovation of the London restaurant included LED lights and “energy saving insulation”.
Energy bills soared amid the ongoing effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the pandemic pushed up wholesale gas prices.
Bae opened his first restaurant in Turkey in 2010 and seven in the US, and one in Knightsbridge, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
He became a viral star with his eccentric salt-sprinkling poses and amassed an estimated £80m fortune.
In 2022, Bae was criticised for bragging about a £140,000 bill racked up by a table of 14 in Abu Dhabi.
Owners of Nusret UK received dividends of £2.8m, up from almost £2m a year before.
