In typical MT headed fashion, food has taken front stage. There was one restaurant/bar that we had lined up on our itinerary before we even got here, and we went there twice (more later). Last night we found some fish and chips, at a place simply called Icelandic Fish and Chips, that rivaled the ones we found in Falmouth.
Some appropriate street art from Reykjavik
The batter was made with spelt and barley, and the chips were baked (not fried) with your choice of olive oil, garlic oil, or rosemary oil. With them were dipping sauces of skyronnaise (sort of a mayonnaise made from skyr, which is kind of like the local yogurt) flavored with anything from basil and garlic, to coriander and lime, to chili.
For lunch today we stopped at a noodle house that literally reached out and grabbed us with the rich smells as we walked by the door. Five spice wafted out the door and convinced us on the spot that we could walk no further. There were only three options, beef noodle bowl, chicken noodle bowl, and vegetarian noodle bowl. We both went for chicken. The meat was incredibly spiced and falling apart tender, and the broth was the richest most wonderfully spiced we have had. I, Mike, went for extra chili in mine, while Tami wimped out with regular spice. This sets a new standard for Tami’s Chinese noodles at home.
Mmmm, these noodles were sooo good
Read no further if you are easily offended by strange foods, political incorrectness, or the eating of animals you may be fond of. If you read on, we will be making no apologies. As you probably know already, we have unusual and expansive tastes. The restaurant/bar we had found ahead of time and made a beeline for the minute we landed is called the Islenski Barinn (Icelandic Bar). It has an extensive menu, and we explored it as thoroughly as we could.
Salmon three ways
Dinner the first night started with lamb carpaccio and salmon three ways, one of which was actually arctic char. We then went to the jar menu. This was a list of items that were served in jars, for whatever reason. These included seared minke whale (beefy rather than fishy), grilled puffin, and a selection of cheeses with blueberry sauce. Then there was the fermented shark served with a shot. This was the dish that horrified both Bordain and Zimmerman, but we thought was delicious, even if it did smell like Raven’s breath after salmon snacks.
Jars with minke and puffin
Finally, there was a great seafood soup with lobster cream broth (also served in a jar), and an unusual seafood salad (on a plate at last). We couldn’t identify all of the seafood in the salad, especially a particularly mushy but tasty something or other. We wanted to try the foal (I believe that would be young horse), but just didn’t have room left.
Tonight we went back there for Tami’s birthday dinner. We started with cold smoked salmon on a scone, and fish jerky. The fish jerky was completely dried white fish (dried even harder than you think of jerky as being), served with pats of butter. While sounding odd, that combination worked very well. The butter provided the fat that helped moisten the fish. We finished with reindeer burgers — sorry Rudolph.
After all this food experimentation, some of our favorites were the seared minke, the fish and chips, and the noodle bowls. The minke was as rich and delicious as a ribeye steak. We were tempted to have the full minke four way dinner tonight, but couldn’t pass up on Rudolph. The noodle soup was amazingly rich and complex. We ate well and will be recovering for days.
-MT
While Kevin may have gone along with you guys and opted for some Flika I would have passed for sure. I would have passed on poor Rudolph as well though Kevin apparently has had it when he lived in Alaska. So far the only food post that HAS NOT made me hungry! I am so glad they opened shops for T’s bday. But what was purchased for said bday?
Certainly the menu was not to everyone’s taste. Many items I don’t expect to see again for a very long time. While Tami picked up a few other items in her shopping (a silver ring, a felt hat, and the obligatory Icelandic wool sweater), her B-day present was a felted jacket made in the Faroe Islands off the coast of Iceland.
Icelandic Chinese food? Bizarre.
Non-PC query:
From what you’ve seen, are Europeans fat? Or are they as fat as Americans? A good number of fat people here, but I’m telling you a good tan makes anyone look fine.
There certainly are many overweight Europeans, though not as much as Americans. Certainly many Europeans secretly crave American junk food (or there wouldn’t be so many outlets), but finding one who would admit it might be difficult. One factor may be that we drive so much. I think every place we visited was less car dependent. More walking and cycling as a basic form of transportation. And certainly less junk food than here, even though there is plenty of it there. It is also something that varies with where you are at. I thought I saw many more overweight people in England than in Denmark, for instance.
Yeah, some people are born with a good tan, and some of us are just Belugas no matter what we do.