Reykjavík Grapevine - 08.04.2005, Side 28

HÓTEL HOLT Offers Classic
French Cuisine for Peanuts
“We don’t do fusion cooking here,” says chef Birgir
Karl Ólafsson. “We have a framework for our menu. It’s
alright to put one step out of the frame, but we don’t
leave the frame. Classical French cuisine is what we do.”
Birgir received his certification from Argentina
Steakhouse and has been running Hótel Holt’s kitchen
for two years now. Many of the cooks working under him
have studied in France, and French chefs visit the kitchen
regularly.
I went to check out the lunch special myself with one
of our photographers, Gummi. I started off with the
snails and chorizo served in a bone with gnocchi and
pistou. The contrasting flavours of snail and chorizo
complemented each other very well, but what impressed
me most was how fresh and crisp the radicchio that it
was topped with was. Icelandic restaurants already have
the deck stacked against them; most of the vegetables
they have to work with are shipped in from overseas,
which can make it exceedingly difficult to get anything as
fresh as I was eating at Hótel Holt.
“We do a count every night of all our vegetables, salads
and herbs,” explained Birgir, “and then do our ordering
the next morning.” That commitment to freshness was
evident in the kitchen itself, which was probably the
cleanest and most organised restaurant kitchen I’d ever
seen. Even the bread put on the table before the meal is
baked by the restaurant itself.
For the main course I ordered the fried ling with
asparagus-potato purée, warm ruccola salad and
parmesan sauce. The plate was artfully done, with
obvious attention put to complementary colours, and
the fish had a subtle but succulent flavour that’s hard to
achieve with white saltwater fish.
The serving staff, who won the Copa America sommelier
competition in 2003, are quick, efficient and unobtrusive
– no one’s going to swoop in to ask how everything is
right after you’ve put a forkful of food in your mouth.
Hótel Holt’s lunch special is available every day from
noon to 14:15. For the quality of the food and service you
receive, you’ll be stunned that the most you’ll pay is 2,700
ISK. It’s a good deal, even if you do the conversion to
your home currency. Better get it while it lasts.
Hótel Holt, Bergstaðastræti 37, 101 Reykjavík
Ph# 552-5700 www.holt.is
BEZT Í HEIMI
by Paul F Nikolov
Restaurants
3 Frakkar, Baldursgata 14, p: 552-3939
Café Opera, Lækjargata 2, p: 552-9499
Hornið, Hafnarstræti 15, p: 551-3340
Jómfrúin, Lækjargata 4, p: 551-0100
Maru, Aðalstræti 12, p: 511-4440
Pasta Basta, Klapparstígur 38, p: 511-2238
Sjávarkjallarinn, Aðalstræti 2, p: 511-1212
Tapas, Vesturgata 3b, p: 551-2344
Tjarnarbakkinn, Vonarstræti 2, p: 562-9700
Tveir Fiskar, Geirsgata 9, p: 511-3474
Við Tjörnina, Templarasund 3, p: 551-8666
Vox Nordica Hotel, Suðurlandsbraut 2, p: 444-5050
R
estaurants
Created by the family that, by introducing the authentic and cheap pizza
store DeVito’s, single-handedly remade the Hlemmur area into the cultural
capital of Reykjavík, Pizza King provides a quotient of sassifaction at Clarence
Carter “Strokin’” levels.
Among the 30 specialty pizzas, ranging from an impressive four cheese pizza
to an outstanding frutti di mare, we haven’t found one that disappoints. Pizza
King specializes in thin-crust, Italian-style pizzas, with sauces that we would
describe as zesty.
What propels Pizza King into the stratosphere, and makes it the best non-
Hótel Holt restaurant in the world (see article above), are the specials. At
present, we are obsessed with the 9-inch lunch special. Between 11 am and 2
pm, a 9-inch pizza with three toppings and a large can of Coke is 600 ISK.
If you can’t make it to Pizza King by 2 pm, you can call for other specials,
which include large pizzas with sodas and garlic oil for a lower price than any
competitor.
The only argument against consuming Pizza King for every meal of the day
has come from our former editor, who claimed the King might not be good
for our health. Well, we did some research. While we at the Grapevine
refuse to acknowledge the new-fangled mysticism of food pyramids, we are
willing to accept the early 1980s Reagan-logic of food groups. According to
diagrams from that era, there are four: grains, fruits and vegetables, meats and
dairy.
Taking our guidelines from an 8th grade health book published in Cleveland,
Ohio in 1981, we can safely say that Pizza King will turn everyone who eats it
into the next Bruce Jenner.
Pizza King, Hafnarstræti 18, 101 Reykjavík, Ph# 551-7474
When it comes to lunch, Hótel Holt is one of
the best-kept secrets in Reykjavík.
Grapevine learned that they offer two-course
lunches for 2,100 ISK and three-course
lunches for 2,700 ISK. Not too bad a price,
which gets even better when you consider
that the courses entailed are Classical French
cuisine
PIZZA KING:
Breakfast, Lunch and
Dinner
by Bart Cameron
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