Gold-Covered Steak Just Seems Unnecessary

They say all that glitters is not gold, but shiny things sometimes cost as much. Restaurateur and influencer Nusret Gökçe, known amongst the netizens as Salt Bae, sells gold-covered steaks that will cost you a pretty penny. His restaurant, Nusr-Et Steakhouse, serves a Golden Tomahawk that costs as much as $1,100, and honestly, it's kind of over the top. Allow us to explain why.

First of all, tomahawk Wagyu steak typically sells for under $200. You can easily buy edible 24-karat golden leaves starting at around $15. Once you season, grill the steak, sear it, and carefully cover it with delicate gold leaves, your gold-covered tomahawk steak is ready to eat. You don't have to pay eye-watering prices to sneak a taste of luxury.

Another reason the gilded steak seems unnecessary is that you cannot taste the gold leaves. Edible gold is as flavorless as paper. It's applied primarily for aesthetics — and we have to agree the steak does look luxurious. However, the Golden Tomahawk is not the only gilded offering at Nusr-Et Steakhouse. The Boston location serves three other gold-covered items — Gold Steak, Golden Kafes, and Golden Amor — that will set diners back $650, $1,100, and $1,500, respectively.

We doubt anyone would mind feasting on a gold-laden Wagyu steak, but not everyone is happy with the hefty price tag at Nusr-Et Steakhouse. "It just feels wrong. It doesn't sit right with me," John Stirk, a steakhouse owner, told The Guardian. To prove someone doesn't need to spend an obscene amount of money to enjoy a gilded steak, his restaurant started selling £100 (approximately $128) golden tomahawk steaks. "The sentiment behind it wasn't about putting a gold, flashy steak on our menu, it was about quality of food," Stirk said. 

In a TikTok video, one creator who said the Golden Tomahawk was "definitely not worth four figures" demonstrated how someone could easily replicate it at home for a fraction of the cost. Plenty of netizens share the sentiment. 

It's a "social way of telling others you have too much money and not enough sense," one person wrote about the Golden Tomahawk on Reddit. "Gold leaf is cheap. This is a scam meme steak," another commented on r/StupidFood. "You could have the best meal of your life at an Omakase or some amazing Michelin-starred restaurant for less than half that. This should be a test for how much of an idiot you are. If you buy this, you lose all your money as you clearly don't deserve it," a third netizen wrote.