Gunaydin is a small, popular chain of steak restaurants, with branch in various smart spots across Istanbul. We visited the branch in Istinye Park, to sample their meaty goodness.
The place is all wood and cowhide, in a style that MJ would simply adore, with cabinets of beef dry ageing for maximum flavour.
On our visit, we picked a steady but not overly busy time, so we were quickly seated in a nice spot at one of the tables, just next to the adjoining fruit and veg market.
As you would expect, the menu is heavy on meat options, with a good two pages of choices. The first page featured an array of different dishes featuring lean, fillet steak. The second offered their 30 day dry aged beef steak, in a range of styles.
From these, I opted for something called a New Orleans fillet, which was a tower of aubergine, steak, more aubergine, cured meat, hot sauce and topped with parmesan. My dining companions chose lokum, which was thinly sliced fillet, and a Dallas steak, which was a colossal ribeye.
Dishes appeared remarkably speedily, and all looked rather good. I had severe ribeye envy. It looked like a mighty morsel that Desperate Dan might chew on for a moment or two. But my tower looked pretty enough.
Cutting in, the meat was perfectly rare and of high quality. Each mouthful was meaty and satisfying. The simple accompaniments of potatoes and a few leeks, mushrooms and carrots seemed a little strange but worked remarkably well. The dish was well-balanced, well thought out, and hit the mark accurately. It lacked a wow factor, but struck me as the kind of experience you'd be happy to repeat on a weekly basis.
Overall, Gunaydin struck me as a very good, reliable steakhouse, with pleasing service, high quality ingredients and smart steakhouse setting. It doubles as a butchers, so you can happily take home many of their fine ingredients to cook at home. Our visit was a very happy one, so I'd happily return to have another go at one of their massive hunks of meat.
Scores
Blythe scores Gunaydin
4/5 for food
4/5 for presentation
4/5 for setting
4/5 for service
giving an overall 16/20
Today's questers were: Mina, Emir, Blythe
We ate: lokum, Dallas, New Orleans
We drank: water, Efes, coffees
We wore: holiday steakware
Total bill: 156 YTL
