Reykjavík Grapevine - 04.06.2010, Side 29

EAT ANd dRINK:
3 X RECIPES
1 MATARGATIð
A quarterly little food mag that you can pick
up free around the city, it’s chocked full of
recipes and cooking ideas and fun little
additions that you need in your kitchen right
now!
2 COOL CUISINE
The newest offering from Icelandic cookbook
shining star Nanna Rögnvalsdóttir, Cool
Cuisine will have you whipping up traditional
fare like a real, live Icelander.
3 ICECOOK
A pretty basic blog that is an anything but
basic consortium of Icelandic food and
food culture. Interested in salting your own
meat? Icecook will tell you how! Fancy some
homemade flatbrauð? Icecook’s got the
recipe for you! (icecook.blogspot.com)
3 X ICE COFFEE
1 HRESSÓ
Served in a brandy snifter, flavoured with
chocolate or caramel and topped with
whipped cream and espresso beans,
Hressó’s ice coffee is a refreshingly indulgent
summertime treat.
Austurstræti 20
2 TE OG KAFFI
The ice coffee at Te og Kaffi upstairs in
Eymundsson are more like frappucinos than
just straight up ice coffee. They’re whipped
and creamy and delicious. Buy a magazine
and an ice coffee and hit the patio.
Austurstræti 18
3 KAFFITÁR
Walking down Laugavegur/Bankastræti/
Austurstræti on these hot summer days
(hey, heat is relative) almost screams for a
cold caffeinated beverage. The ice coffee
at Kaffitár is a straight up creamy, flavoured
ice-cold cup’o’joe. Nice.
Bankastræti 8
3 X CAKE
1 SANDHOLT
It’s no secret that Sandholt is a pretty
fabulous bakery—but they’ve got a chocolate
lava cake that will knock your socks off. It
actually tastes like rich dark chocolate, and
maintains its natural bitterness and melts in
the centre and ohmygawd.
Laugavegur 36
2 GRæNN KOSTUR
Next time you swing by Grænn kostur for
some delicious vegetarian fare make sure to
save space for dessert—they’ve got some
cakes that are so moist and delicious and it’s
easy to imagine that they’re not so bad for you
since it’s kinda a healthy restaurant.
Skólavörðustígur 8b
3 IKEA
Alright, so people don’t exactly think IKEA
when they have a hankering for cake, but
the next time you’re shopping for some
reasonably priced Swedish house wares
check out the shockingly sweet and spicy
carrot cake in their cafeteria. No assembly
required… oh, that’s lame.
Kauptúni 4
Slightly off the beaten path, or at least off
the path that I tend to beat, at the corner
of Vitastígur and Bergþórugata (not near
anything resembling a light house, as
its grammatical root would imply) is
local burger joint/watering hole Vitabar,
a greasy-spoon that is out of the way
enough to go for a possibly frowned-upon
midday drink but not so far that you
wouldn’t haul your cookies there for one
of their infamous ‘forget-me-not’ burgers.
Sitting in the decidedly no-frills, wood-
panelled little bar, it didn’t take much
time for my date and me to decide what
to order. He didn’t even have to open the
menu before ordering up a forget-me-not
blue cheese burger (800 ISK) and, forcing
myself not to order the same thing (it
was very difficult), I opted for the bacon
cheeseburger (850 ISK). Both are served
with a side of fries.
As one would expect from the
Grapevine-declared best blue cheese
burger in Reykjavík of 2009, the forget-
me-not burger my date devoured was
sweaty and sloppy and covered in enough
blue-cheese and garlic to taint his breath
for a week. My bacon cheeseburger
was really no comparison to my date’s
dish (but nothing in the burger world
really can compare, to be fair) but if I
were comparing it to anything but the
famed gleym-mér-ey I’d rightly declare
‘goddamn this is a good burger!’ It really
is! Just as sweaty, just as juicy, just as
drool inducing. Topped with a hearty slice
of bacon and melty, gooey cheese, this
thing may not be the king of burgers, but
it sure could wear the prince’s crown. The
fries accompanying both burgers were a
little on the soggy side, though, and didn’t
do either of the burgers any real justice.
The Guiding Light
CATHARINE FULTON
JULIA STAPLES
GRAPEVINE FOOD REVIEW KEY
0 God-awful
Awful
Passable. Much room for improvement
Good, but not great.
Really rather good
Extraordinary
The food is rated in three categories:
Fast food: Pizza, pylsa and kebab, food on
the go (0-2000 ISK)
Mid-range: Everyday eateries, sit-in. (mains
2000-4000 ISK)
Fine dining: Fancy, expensive-type food.
(3-course dinners 6000 and up)
To best judge the restaurant experience,
the Grapevine conducts its reviews anony-
mously. The sole exception is the payment
method: When the bill arrives, the reviewer
presents a written statement, previously
signed by the restaurant management,
allowing the reviewer and one companion a
meal on the house for review purposes.
Using this approach, we aim to best
preserve the reviewer’s objectivity (and the
restaurants’ consistency), within the humble
means of a free newspaper.
The Grapevine does not favour foie gras
over fast food. Restaurants are reviewed
for what they are; both burger and beluga
can be extraordinary in their own right.
In all evaluations, the food is key: Does it
taste good? Is it properly prepared? Are
the ingredients fresh and of high quality?
Secondary considerations include setting,
service and value for money.
All opinions expressed are the critic’s
own. SP
Vitabar
Bergþórugötu 21
What we think: Vitastígur is
the place for burgers
Flavour: Sweaty, greasy, good
Ambiance: Dive bar
Service: Friendly