This year's summer season in Saudi Arabia is on fire (and no, we're not talking about the heat). This is in part due to the launch of Jeddah Season, a summer festival jam-packed with entertainment options. When we talk about entertainment, restaurants and food top the list, of course.
Salt Bae's - otherwise known as Nusret Gökçe - famous steakhouse got its very own pop-up branch as part of the festival. Nobu, the world's most recognized Japanese restaurant, is another eatery getting its summer minutes of fame after opening up alongside Jeddah's corniche - also as part of the festival.
So, it would only make sense to see Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman take U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to the newly opened restaurant during the latter's visit to the kingdom. It was also expected to see Nobu post a video of the casual dining on Instagram.
"What an honor," the restaurant writes in another post
Nobu's video began circulating all over social media, making its way to Twitter quite dominantly. The video - rather than the outcome of Pompeo's visit to Saudi Arabia - suddenly became all people could talk about.
Twitter users in the kingdom even launched an Arabic hashtag on the occasion, titled "Mohammed bin Salman on Jeddah's Corniche."
It wasn't just MBS' humble dining experience that garnered all the attention; the crown prince's selfie with a young restaurant-goer was another.
#1: NOBU BE LIKE
#2: The humble selfie
#3: The commentary
"Very proud of this man"
"Are those sneakers?"
"Kid is way too calm"
Not the first time an MBS selfie gets attention
In 2017, visitors to Al-Ula mountains in Saudi Arabia bumped into the crown prince while touring the archaeological sites there. A number of Saudi tourists rushed to take selfies with him, posted them online, and ultimately went viral.
The politician selfie in 2018
In 2018, Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri posted a selfie with MBS and his brother Khaled bin Salman, taken during a trip made to Riyadh that year.