Restaurant critic Jay Rayner
(Picture: Tim Scrivener/REX/Shutterstock)A food critic has gone viral for his unusual and scathing “review” of Salt Bae’s London steakhouse.
In a review for the Observer, Jay Rayner said he didn’t want to review the viral restaurant at all, claiming the newspaper had better things to spend its money on and so instead he brought his “own table, chair and chequered tablecloth” to sit outside the restaurant and eat a £8.50 takeaway kebab.
“It’s a ludicrous gesture, but then the Nusr-Et Steakhouse is a ludicrous restaurant, and one stupid turn deserves another,” he wrote.
“I’m certain that I am eating better than all the customers through the huge wooden doors behind me, spaffing their sticky largesse over gold-leaf wrapped steaks.”
The controversial and wildly expensive restaurant has been the talk of the town since it opened a few weeks ago. It has been hit by a string of negative reviews online, has hosted a number of strange celebrities, and even the likes of Gemma Collins have been appalled by its prices.
So, responding to his stunt, people praised him:
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This is quite superb @jayrayner1 https://t.co/9KDEMoXqMb
— Andrew Stone (@stonelandofnod) October 17, 2021
Not reviewing the restaurant is far more damning than any Le Cinq style savaging you could have written. Good job 👍
— Daniel Taylor (@dantaylor26) October 17, 2021
Wonderful @jayrayner1 I will ensure my boys aged 11 and 8 read this for your excellent wit and turn of phrase but more importantly so they don’t ask me to take them. The gold turd reference could be a clincher either way though 💩🤷🏼♂️
— James Harris (@hashtagheron) October 17, 2021
Long live @jayrayner1 🙌🏼👏🏻 This is brilliant 😂 https://t.co/6oEfeFiI4g
— Ben Armstrong Marshall 🏴🇪🇺 (@bcamarshall) October 17, 2021
Jay Rayner could run the country. Just saying.
— Stephanie Sirr 💙💙💙 (@stephsirr) October 17, 2021
Kebab Kid, London: ‘Take-away as a cult’ – restaurant review https://t.co/DtltjhborC
Magnificent work from @jayrayner1, not least because I’d been wondering whether wrapping meat in gold leaf serves any culinary purpose at all.https://t.co/lPKeIxShcj
— James OhBrien (@mrjamesob) October 17, 2021
Turns out the only thing more savage than giving a negative review of a restaurant is not reviewing it at all.
