Gunaydin – Souk Al Bahar – Dubai Mall

There are almost 40 successful restaurants for Gunaydin in Turkey. But here’s a first one for Dubai and it’s grand! Located in the prime spot in Dubai Mall facing the dancing fountain and the world’s tallest hotel Burj Khalifa. Gunaydin has specialized in meat and the show is run by the celebrity chef Cuneyt Asan. You will even find quality meats coming directly from Turkey. Infact, you can buy meats for home. It’s literally a butcher shop that showcases their craftsmanship by serving meats that taste juicy as ever with impeccable service. Food is expensive but diners who come here don’t really care about the money for the true Turkish meaty affair.

There are two sides to the restaurant. One side is the butcher shop where you can buy meat for your home and the other side is where you can actually dine in. It’s all premium in here and it feels wonderful sitting in or outside the restaurant. Love the hanging lights here. Being an open kitchen concept it’s often nice to see the meats being tossed up in the air and grilled in hot flames which gets you mouth watering.

Drinks – from left: very berry smoothie(AED 35), water melon juice, Virgin strawberry Mojito(AED 29),

They had a long category of drinks such as Mocktails, Milk Shakes, sherbets, detox and Smoothies. I highly recommend to try their smoothies. The very berry smoothie is a blend of blueberry, banana, turkish yoghurt, milk, chia seed and honey. The virgin mojito wasn’t really upto the mark. The red blood water melon juice was fresh as expected.

Tulum peynirli salad – AED 40 – Mixed Green salad with Tulum cheese

The Tulum salad was an attractive piece of art on our table. Guests from other table actually asked us what did we just order. What a beautiful looking salad! The salad which was flooded with cheese, nuts, leaves was simply irresistible.

Cold Mezzeh – AED 40 each(Hummus,Muhammara and Yoghurt with garlic)

Being a turkish restaurant they can’t go wrong with their cold mezzeh. The Muhammara here was excellent. Yoghurt with garlic was thick and cooling to the tummy. They could improve their presentation of their cold mezzeh, they just didn’t look elegant on that plate. If there is anything that I didn’t like at Gunaydin, it was their breads which was quite stiff to chew. I think they need to find a better bread formula. However that said their pizza bread below was fantastic with nice flavour and taste.

Thinly sliced marinated fillet of beef – AED 135

Meat platter for two – AED 330 – Adana Kebab, Doner, Lamb shish, Lamb chops, chicken shish)

Ofcourse Gunaydin excels when it comes to Meats. Chef Cuneyt Asan doesn’t waste any opportunity to show off his skill with the meat. The way it’s cut, cooked. It was all very special to see him in action. They make first class juicy meats that is tender as ever. The doners were mesmerizing. The thinly sliced marinated fillet were actually made right in front of my eyes with chef Cuneyt Asan playing with Meat, Knife and Fire.

katmer – AED 85 – Crispy baked pasty filled with pistachio and served with vanilla ice cream

They continued to dazzle with their traditional Turkish dessert. I am a big fan of baklawas and pistachios. Here I am being presented with a giant bakalwa pastry sheet filled with pistachio served with Turkish ice cream. It was a delicious treat from Gunaydin. The dessert was traditional and true to it’s taste. This is one of their signature desserts and you shouldn’t miss this part if you are here.