Visit Helsinki: Goodwin steakhouse

After a very great response from my readers about Tokyostreet.org, I’m more than happy to put a spotlight on another great restaurant in Helsinki as part of my “Visit Helsinki” series of posts where I recommend you the restaurants to dine at in my town, places to stay at, special spots to visit, etc.

Today I’m bringing you a review of, by the choices of many locals as well as tourists, the best steakhouse in Finland: Goodwin Steakhouse.

I personally don’t eat red meat but after being approached by the restaurant, I got interested to check out their menu online and see if there is something what I could eat too. It’s not that hard to find a friend who can appreciate a good steak but I wanted to have something that I can comment on as well before I agree on doing this kind of assignment. So I got very happy when I saw that the options on the menu were catering to people who don’t eat meat and would rather prefer to have a fish instead.

When I think of the restaurants in Helsinki, there are not that many places which offer this kind of extensive list of steak options and let alone a passion for a perfectly done steak, meaning sourcing only the best, prime cuts of meat catered to your table with so much knowledge and skill as well as humble “fear” if the costumer will be satisfied. One thing which immediately “bought” me upon arriving and later on throughout dining at Goodwin Steakhouse was the service which was very laid-back, professional and very eager to perform when presenting each plate of the food. Each costumer matters equally and at Goodwin you will feel very welcomed.

Goodwin Steakhouse is the only true American style steakhouse in Baltics and Scandinavia. First restaurant was opened in Tallinn, Estonia back in 2009, followed by an opening in Helsinki (location which I have visited next to Market Square) 3 years ago and a recent opening of their third restaurant in a new hyped food court of shopping mall Iso Omena.

Goodwin Steakhouse is ran by a group of true food lovers who’s main passion for providing only the best beef meat from Australia and US has placed them up high on Helsinki’s most visited restaurants. All of the steaks are prepped in their coal oven and the costumer has a great variety of options which parts of the beef (cuts) they would like to try. If you are a steak lover, this will be your paradise since you’ll get to choose between rib-eye, New York, T – bone, filet mignon and many more steak options. Your waiter will be more than happy to explain everything and help you with making the right decision.

Important to mention is that even I know that a good steak shouldn’t be enjoyed without a great glass (or bottle 😀 ) of wine. Goodwin Steakhouse got you all covered on that too since one of their main “3 cults” is cult of wine, other two being cult of beef and cult of costumer service.

We had Caprese salad and cream of lobster soup as starters which were just a perfect and delicious introduction into our main courses. After seeing whole sea bass grilled on charcoal on the menu it wasn’t hard to make my decision, I simply had to have it, since it’s not that usual to find a whole grilled fish in Helsinki restaurants.

As a steak option, New York steak – medium rare was brought up for the test and it won with all 5 stars! When my friend who loves meat said that the meat alone would have been just fine without any side dishes because it was so delicious, then you know that Goodwin’s chefs mean “serious business” and you won’t be disappointed by the meat. It came with the side of roasted potatoes and house special sauce made of red wine, berries and honey. I have to say that I have loved my fish and it did bring me the “taste of home” feeling since the flavour of the charcoal and fish woke up the childhood memories of how my dad used to prep the fish for our family. Just some fresh parsley and a squeeze of lemon juice was enough to make my tastebuds completely satisfied.

As for the desserts, we had a traditional American Red velvet cake and an apple pie with vanilla ice cream. The pie was warm and in combination with a cold scoop of ice cream simply just “hit the spot” for me while the Red velvet cake was just ok, since it was too sugary and “buttery” for my preference but then again, can I really complain? NOT! Everything was absolutely wonderful and I was happy to leave Goodwin knowing that there is such a gem in Helsinki which was up until now unknown “territory” to me and it turned into being one of my top recommendations for a great date night dinner and the best steak in town option.

*This post has been made in collaboration with Goodwin Steakhouse but all of the opinions are my own.

*Thank you to everybody at Goodwin Steakhouse for great food, service and overall experience and Miss Aino for arranging everything.

*Photography by: Natali K.photography