But he now heads a global chain stretching from Las Vegas to London that serve $1,000 gold leaf steaks to a clientele made up of fellow trendsetters and celebrities.
Salt Bae can still occasionally be seen jogging around Istanbul's more upscale neighbourhoods with impressive weights strapped around his bulging calves and arms.
His attention to his own physique is part of the chef's peculiar charm.
His early morning workouts are chronicled in great detail and include endless flexes of his biceps for the camera.
But this self-aggrandisement is laced with boundless irony that shines through when he happily posts some of the most scathing reviews of his food and general behaviour.
Critics have roundly panned his London Nusr-Et outpost -- one of 22 he now has around the world.
The Guardian's food critic called it "a ludicrous restaurant". GQ magazine agreed that the steak Salt Bae serves in New York is "mundane, somewhat tough and rather bland".
"It does not matter," GQ added. "One does not visit Salt Bae for steak alone any more than one goes to Mass for the wafers."
Salt Bae happily gloats at all the attention while accumulating a fortune that various media reports estimate at up to $70 million.
"All publicity is good publicity," he wrote on Instagram over a picture of one of the more painful London reviews.
