Many modern-day restaurants don’t spawn from classically-trained chefs these days. They're often the work of influencers and celebrities (Salt Bae’s Nusr-Et is a prime example), a truth most recently demonstrated by the brand-new partnership between Tik Tok chef CZN Burak and Manchester United footballer Christiano Ronaldo. The pair are set to open a London restaurant before the year is out.
Although details about the venture are still few and far between, it has been confirmed that the restaurant is scheduled to open its doors in November 2022.
So, what actually are the credentials of the pair behind the new project? Social media star CZN Burak – whose real name is Burak Özdemir - is famed for his whacky yet always smiley food videos using enormous ingredients, with the 27-year-old boasting a rather ludicrous 32 million followers on Instagram and 57 million followers on Tik Tok. Go check them out to see what we mean.
On top of his highly-successful social media presence, Burak is something of a restaurateur with three existing restaurant brands in 11 countries around the world. The chef’s restaurant line-up includes Turkish joint Hatay Medeniyetler Sofrasi Taksim, which has five branches in multiple countries, as well as his chain CZNBURAK. However, it’s not yet confirmed which of his concepts he’ll be bringing to the UK.
This is not Ronaldo’s first foray into the restaurant industry either. The footballer first attempted to open a restaurant back in 2018, which he did in the form of Japanese-Mediterranean Zela, but which sadly only lasted two years before having to close its doors permanently, another casualty of the pandemic.
Özdemir commented on the new restaurant: “In the 11th month this year, we will be opening our venue in the United Kingdom. We will open a venue in London in partnership with Cristiano Ronaldo. We are not revealing this too much, because we were supposed to make a beautiful surprise at the opening [sic].”
In other restaurant news, three Michelin-starred Simon Rogan hints at opening a new restaurant in Manchester.