Icelandic Fish & Chips

On our first night in Reykjavik, we were recommended to try Icelandic Fish & Chips near the harbor area. It wasn't expensive for an organic bistro and it seemed a good way to try some seafood. Depending on the day's catch, there would be only 4-5 fish options to choose from. The place was bustling which was a good sign and we waited a few minutes for a table to open up. It was also our first foray into Icelandic casual dining where often the water, glasses, cutlery and napkins were on a sideboard which you help yourself too. There is no need to tip in Iceland so I guess it's few less things for the servers to be concerned about. For drinks, I tried a Malt Ale - a very soothing light ale with very low alcohol content. It was quite sugary and pleasant though.

Icelandic Fish & Chips does not provide ketchup. Salt&vinegar was something you had to request. Instead, they created their own in-house "skyronnaise" - a rich flavored dipping sauce made from skyr in various flavors including coriander-lime or ginger wasabi.



I chose the ling which came on a bed of mango salad. Ling is a beautiful fish - silky smooth but the batter overpowered the taste a bit. The salad was fine - unfortunately, Iceland does not import the really sweet champagne mangos. The mangos in the salad were crunchy and green.

Paul had the classic haddock and chips. The "chips" were not french fries - but rather Roasted small potatoes halved.

He also had the onion rings which were beautifully stacked, crunchy and sweet.

Overall, the fish was fresh but the flavors lacked punch - perhaps a tad more salt needed? The skyronnaise was fine at first but after a while - I was missing the salt & vinegar. The onion rings were delicious though especially when hot. As they got colder, they started to taste greasy fast. The meal was serviceable - not blow-out fantastic. Or perhaps it spoke to my ambivalence with fish&chips in general. Thinking back...I never ate it when I was in England...

Fire & Ice - Best Meal in Iceland

A little unexpectedly, the best meal we had in Iceland was not at a restaurant - but at a guesthouse near Akeureyi. The Skjaldarvik guesthouse provided dinner if you ordered in advance - they also offered special "Ride & Bite" tours which consisted of a 1.5 hour horseback riding tour plus dinner for a decent price. There were two choices for starters and entree - I had the "Secret" Soup - a vegetarian concoction - they would not reveal the ingredients or the recipe. The secret soup was fine - I detected onion, swede, paprika.

Paul had the foal carpaccio which was amazingly tender - dressed in olive oil, lemon, s&p, some arugula and parmesan.

The foal was a very good dish. For the entree, chicken lasagna didn't entice so we both had the organic lamb with mint creme fraiche which was excellent. It was paired with a little salad and a beautiful slice of potato galette cake. This is quite a fiddle to make as I have looked into it. After making very thin slices of potato with a mandolin, you layer them over one another with onion etc. before baking. Afterwards, we gave our compliments to the female chef and she asked if we would like dessert.

We were both full but if this was the standard of her cooking, we should not refuse! We were both given a beautiful dessert which she called "Fire & Ice". A hot molten chocolate cake bomb in a hot glass paired with ice cream which was devastatingly well-executed.

Beautifully presented - the chef used tear-outs from old books to serve as liners. Home cooking at its very best.

Rye Bread Ice Cream

This was the find of the holiday! I try to order the more unusual items on the menus while on vacation. No point eating stuff you can get at home. At Cafe Loki in Reykjavik, Paul ordered the rye bread ice cream which comes with cream and rhubarb syrup. I think rhubarb is quite plentiful here as I'm positive I saw it growing by the roadside in some places. The ice cream was dense - obviously made from good quality cream and the slightly sweet rye bread crumbs gave the dish a really nice texture! The cream on top was super too - obviously not the fake squirts from a can. We loved it so much - we had to grab another one when we returned to Reykjavik on our last day.

Iceland - Dried Fish

Recently got back from a 10 day trip in Iceland and perhaps a little surprising, the food was quite good! Lots of seafood, organic lamb and other exotic meats on the menus. However, the grocery stores were a mix of US and UK items with a definite Scandanavian flair. The yogurt was fantastic and muesli with yogurt/milk was a breakfast staple. One uniquely Icelandic item that I did find in the supermarkets was the packets of dried fish! These were quite pricey - about US$5 a bag and are known as a good source of protein. Loving the Asian dried cuttlefish, I had to buy a bag to try. There wasn't much flavor - it was not sweet, salty or spicy. It was just dried fish. The texture seemed odd too. It wasn't chewy but just kind of melted in your mouth. Not sure if I would buy again but I ate the whole bag anyway...