Reykjavík Grapevine - 28.08.2009, Page 43

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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 13 — 2009

Preserving quality
is our business
Open daily for lunch and dinners
Special off er on Monday
and Tuesday – 3 course dinner
for only 4200 ISK.
Reservation: tel. 552 5700,
e-mail: gallery@holt.is
Bergstaðastræti 37 s. 552 5700
holt@holt.is www.holt.is
Elegant surroundings
Superb cuisine
Modern comfort
beat with his pizzas, he might wanna pair
them up better. The gnats weren’t hard to
locate, the lake is of course named after
those little bastards. They might seem a
bit cosy at first, but they’ll turn on you. As
for the pizza of the same name, it seemed
to follow a similar maxim: the smoked
trout and cream cheese begun by busting
your taste buds, but after a few bites you’d
rather move over to something like Dim-
muborgir.
The lava statues that greet you at Dim-
muborgir easily explain why a (formerly)
brutal black metal band is named after
the phenomenon. They are quite intimi-
dating. For me, as a man who normally
doesn’t take pineapple on his pizza, the
eponymous pie was also intimidating.
But once you lay off the prejudices you re-
alize that there’s nothing demonic about
it, just an absurdly formed cosiness. That
goes for both the pizza and the place.
Next up was Höfði, a secret garden full
of mystique and lust. As soon as one
stepped over the fence, it was as a calm
wind subdued all your thoughts and ev-
eryone got quiet. We walked through the
pouring rain in radiant sun and the pizza
made sense; carefully chosen mushy veg-
etables—appeasing and fulfilling.
After we visited our dear abyss that night,
we moved over to something every local
cherishes —a party at ‘The Clearing.’
The party place lived up to its name, al-
though it might sound a bit cliché. A cosy
bonding fire, nice guitar tunes and jolly
people. That eventually morphed into
wobbling drunken unfortunates, fall-
ing on their own pee spurts, playing folk
songs lying on their backs too drunk to
hold them steady sitting up. At seven AM,
a few were drunk and cockeyed enough
to decide upon a repeat visit to the abyss,
yours truly included.
Note to self: five people, a two-person-Re-
nault Smart, way-too-many beers, a few
bottles of vodka, climbing down to a cave
and boiling hot water is never a good mix.
GEOTHERMAL WONDERS AND THE
ENDLESS JOURNEY HOME
It was a wise decision not to knock down a
pick-me-up beer when we woke up hung-
over off our asses ‘cause what we had in
store was hulking: the volcano Krafla was
to be visited, as well as the geothermal
area Námuskarð. The volcanic Krafla
pizza, brimful of various melted cheeses,
clearly reminded you of the raunchy sur-
roundings of the still-active volcano, but
Námaskarð was positively the best repli-
ca. The bubbling hot springs represented
the pepperoni and jalapeno filled pizza,
and the colour scheme fit!
On the endless, dark and murky way
home, we had some time to contemplate
our journey. We thrashed out a mutual
conclusion: although the pizzas were
grand and rich you should definitely ac-
company the tasting menu with a sight-
seeing tour. And maybe a beer or two.
SIGURÐUR KJARTAN KRISTINSSON
GAS