Reykjavík Grapevine - 15.06.2007, Síða 16

This summer, the Sirkus street market will be open every weekend on Fri-
days and Saturdays, much like it has been the last five years. The market
offers a collection of second hand clothing and books, and has become an
increasingly popular shopping stop along Laugavegur.
Sirkus proprietor Sigga Boston, says the idea was born one night by
the bar table: “We wanted to use the port behind the bar to do something
fun. I had been working in second hand shops in Holland for years, and
that seemed like a natural fit for us.” Sigga says she stopped meddling in
the daily affairs of the market some time ago and now mostly puts it in the
hands of people she trusts with it, while the bar tries to help them out.
This year, the task has fallen into the hands of American Erin Riley, who
says that this year, the plan is to shake things up a bit. “We are trying to
make it different this year. We will try to get some vegetables and other
stuff, like home made soap and such. We want to try to create something
of a farmers market.”
While selling stuff is obviously the main idea, Erin says that there are
also plans to try to create a less commerce-driven atmosphere around the
market. “We want to try to create a more of a carnival feeling. The plan
is to try to get bands and dj’s to play on weekends. FM Belfast is going to
play this Friday and after that there is a dj playing.”
Anyone with stuff to sell can rent a booth at Sirkus street market for a
relatively modest price. If you have an abundance of clothes that fit you 5
kilos ago, come by the market and ask for Erin.

Sirkus Street Market
RVK_GV_INFO_COMMERCE_B11B10_RVK_GV_INFO_ISSUE 08_007_REVIEWS/FOOD
Located on Austurstræti, in downtown Reykjavík, Thorvaldsen’s
Bar is a hip bistro and bar with a relaxed feel. The restaurant
offers bar, cafe and dining areas as well as an outdoor seat-
ing area.
Averaging out at around 1500 ISK, the starter menu consists
of salmon tenderloin, lobster naan pizza, sashimi volcano and
Japanese style soft-shell crab. With meticulous presentation and
the use of such ingredients as shiitake and enoki mushrooms,
wasabe, soy, ginger, Japanese mayonnaise and salmon, the
entrée menu is clearly Japanese inspired.
Shortly after taking our place on one of the comfortable
couches, the waiter, who was professional and generally atten-
tive, offered us an appetiser of pappadams with mango chut-
ney. Thorvaldsen’s minimalist and stylish approach to interior
design, combined with the ambient sound of Air playing in the
background, helped to create a trendy and relaxed atmosphere.
As with many upper-medium to higher-end restaurants, the
menu is as much dedicated to wine as its culinary offerings.
From the Stir-fry and Healthy Meal menu, I chose the hearty
Vegetable Hot Balti. At 1,690 ISK, although one of the cheaper
meals on the menu, the Balti was satisfying. The interesting mix
of baby corn, couscous, rice, mushrooms, Asian greens, carrots
and cashews was served in a thick spicy coconut-flavoured curry
sauce with a dash of yogurt dressing. The dish was presented
in a decorative ceramic pot and was large enough for two.
My friend picked the Tenderloin of beef ’twister’ from the
Main Dishes menu which also included the Tuna Fish Tandoori,
Filet of Lamb vs. Foie Gras and Monkfish and Smoked Haddock
Spring Roll. At 3,690 ISK, the Tenderloin came in at the higher
end of the menu and consisted of a well presented stack of
beef and potato garnished with herbs and served with crunchy
wing bean, watermelon, mushroom, Jerusalem artichoke and
crispy bacon. Although my companion raved about the dish,
he did mention that the beef was unevenly cooked and would
have preferred it well-done.
Thorvaldsen’s regularly changing menu, which also includes
an interesting array of soups and salads, focuses heavily on
Asian influenced seafood dishes. The tempting dessert menu
includes coconut and dragonfruit ice cream.
The restaurant also holds theme days: sushi and sashimi
on Sunday and Asia de Cuba fusion cuisine and music on
Wednesday evenings.
Thorvaldsen’s Bar
Austurstræti 8-10, 101 Reykjavík, tel: 511 1423
You can talk all you want about your braised lamb shanks,
your fancy baked Alaskas, and your filet mignons in milky
French sauces. But when it comes right down to it, if you
were on death row and you had to pick your last meal, you’d
ditch all that Food Network and Iron Chef nonsense for some
good old fashioned comfort food. As a final farewell to your
parting taste buds, you’d ask the governor for a cheeseburger
so rare it still moos, crunchy seasoned French fries and a
super-sized, politically incorrect Coke. The inmates on any
Texas or Oklahoma death row pretty much all go with this
one for their last meal, and I think that once again their aim
is dead-on. Don’t believe me? Check out deadmaneating.
com. Pretty fascinating stuff.
Eiki Feiti (or “Fat Eric’s”) is a no-nonsense burger joint and
if it had any more kooky wall drawings of cartoons sequentially
getting fatter from cheeseburgers it would have to go in a
shack. Instead, it’s underneath The Highlander (where you
can get a beer and an Eiki Feiti burger for an impressive 1000
ISK) in a room with long mirrors that might be there as some
sort of strange joke. What’s even stranger is that this place
has got a John Travolta movie poster for “Lucky Numbers”
(the cook joked that he couldn’t find a Scarface poster, but I
can’t think of anything with a greater surplus than Scarface
posters).
I got an Eiki Feiti special (900 ISK), which included a drink,
perfectly crispy french fries with cocktail sauce and a sopping
rare cheeseburger with hamburger sauce, tomato, lettuce,
and buns that were way too big for the patty. But hey, gives
us this day our daily bread, right? This thing brought me
back to going into burger shacks on the beach in LA after a
long self-indulgent day of surfing. My friend shrugged at the
concept of arteries and ordered a Bacon Burger (690 ISK),
which came with onions and was just as good as my burger.
Other menu highlights included fish and chips (790 ISK), a
BBQ burger (550 ISK).
Eiki Feiti is unpretentious and flat out good. When I’m
eating a hamburger I don’t want to be assaulted by glossy
pictures of aging rock stars. I’ll take this place over “American
Style” any day of the week.
Eiki Feiti
Lækjargata 10, 101 Reykjavík, tel.: 517 0668
One quiet Sunday evening I had the pleasure of finding out
one of Reykjavík’s best-kept secrets, down by the old harbour.
But don’t worry; it won’t stay secret for long. Good news
tends to travel fast.
Grandi, the old Reykjavík harbour area, is experiencing a
rapid revitalisation these days. New housing developments are
underway and with new high-end shops finding a foothold
in the region, new restaurants seem to be a forgone conclu-
sion. One such place is Sjávarbarinn, a brand new addition to
Reykjavík’s many fish restaurants.
What sets this place apart from others of its kind is the price.
Fish is a relatively expensive material in Iceland, but owner and
head chef Magnús Magnússon has managed to put together
a menu in a very competitive price range, without making
sacrifices to the standard of the food. Admittedly, there is a
homely cafeteria feel to the dining area, but obviously cutbacks
had to be made somewhere in order to meet this price.
Sjávarbarinn’s main feature is an all-you-can-eat buffet,
filled with assorted fish dishes and other creatures from the
sea. During the lunch hour, the buffet is filled with food that
Magnús describes as “more traditional Icelandic family recipes,”
consisting of, well, traditional Icelandic family dishes—plain
and fresh fish, the way Icelanders have been consuming it for
centuries. The price for the lunch buffet is 1,200 ISK.
In the evenings, the chef spruces things up with a more
international flavour. The night time buffet offers a collection
of Asian inspired shrimp dishes, South European bacalao, mixed
with more traditional Icelandic dishes and experimental fusions,
using a wide variety of different fish species, some I had never
even tasted before. I feel especially obligated to recommend the
bacalao dish. The price for the evening buffet is 2,400 ISK.
Aside from the buffet, guests also have the option to order
special courses from the menu. Apart from the ever-popular
fish n’ chips, or the Icelandic fish stew, Sjávarbarinn also offers
a delicious fish soup, made from white wine, cream, and most
importantly, fish. It is a huge dish, more than the equivalent of
a full meal and worth every króna of the 1,900 ISK price tag.
Overall, Sjávarbarinn is a pleasant addition to the Reykjavík
restaurant collection. It is an ideal stop for anyone curious to
try Icelandic fish at an affordable price.
Sjávarbarinn
Grandagarður 9, 101 Reykjavík, tel.: 517 3131
Reviewed by Zoë Robert Reviewed by Chandler Fredrick Reviewed by Sveinn Birkir Björnsson Text by Sveinn Birkir Björnsson
Klapparstígur 30, 101 Reykjavík
Happy Hour
7 days a week from 17:00 – 20:00
Pósthússtræti 2, 101 Reykjavik – ICELAND / +354 599 1000 www.saltrestaurant.is