‘Gladiator’ star pitches in to rescue blast-hit Beirut eatery

Beirut: Hollywood star Russell Crowe said on Thursday that he donated funds to help rebuild a blast-hit Beirut restaurant on behalf of late food icon Anthony Bourdain, who loved its traditional dishes.

The decades-old Le Chef restaurant, located in the heart of a trendy Beirut district, is a beloved neighbourhood place renowned for its home-style cooking. It was blown to pieces by the August 4 explosion that killed 171 people, wounded at least 6,500 and ravaged swathes of Beirut.

The Oscar-winning Crowe, best known for his role in the 2000 action film Gladiator, said on Twitter that he made the donation "on behalf of Anthony Bourdain". "I thought that he would have probably done so if he was still around," Crowe said of the celebrity chef and travel journalist who committed suicide in 2018.

"Hope things can be put back together soon." Crowe’s $5,000 donation was made on a GoFundMe page set up by fans of Le Chef, a restaurant popular with tourists as well as locals in the Gemmayzeh neighbourhood that was among the hardest-hit by the explosion.