Reykjavík Grapevine - 29.07.2011, Qupperneq 63

Step into
the Viking Age
Experience Viking-Age Reykja­vík a­t the
new Settlement Exhibition. The focus of the
exhibition is a­n exca­va­ted longhouse site which
da­tes from the 10th century ad. It includes
relics of huma­n ha­bita­tion from a­bout 871, the
oldest such site found in Icela­nd.

Multimedia­ techniques bring Reykja­vík’s
pa­st to life, providing visitors with insights
into how people lived in the Viking Age, a­nd
wha­t the Reykja­vík environment looked like
to the first settlers.
The exhibition a­nd
museum shop a­re open
da­ily 10–17
Aða­lstræti 16
101 Reykja­vík / Icela­nd
Phone +(354) 411 6370
www.reykja­vikmuseum.is
GEYSIR ATV TOURS
“Like driving on the moon”
1,5 km from Geysir Center
Experience the 4x4 fourwheeler rides
around the amazing geysir area
Gardner Huges, 56 year old client from Utah.
Geysir ATV Tours
Tel: + 354 869 4474
atvtours@atvtours.is
www.atvtours.is
Open all year
Daly trips in June, July and August
every two hours from 10:00 – 18:00.
Iceland sure has come a long
way since its first Thai restaurant
opened for business a couple of
decades ago. One can now enjoy
lavish meals from most corners
of the world within Reykjavík, and
this is great cause for celebration.
It can only get better from here on.
However, as one of our readers re-
marked in a letter earlier this year,
a restaurant that specialises in the
unique and excellent culinaria of
Ethiopia has been sorely missed
(those that have had the chance to
enjoy Ethiopian cuisine will agree).
Fret no more, however! Iceland finally
has an Ethiopian restaurant! And it’s...
in Flúðir?
Yes, it’s true. Iceland’s first ever
Ethiopian restaurant, Minilik, is locat-
ed in the village of Flúðir in the south
of Iceland (if you went on a ‘Golden
Circle’ tour you will have been fairly
close by), which up until now has most-
ly been known for growing every single
button mushroom that’s consumed in
Iceland.
A name worthy of an emperor
Minilik is named in honour of Em-
peror Minilik (1844–1913), who served
as Ethiopia’s emperor from 1889 until
his death and is regarded a national
hero—he is credited with, among oth-
er things, fending off Italy’s attempts
to colonise the country (Ethiopia is the
only country in Africa that has never
been colonised).
The menu is simple yet satisfying,
listing seven staple dishes (including
Kitfo, Siga Wott and Minchetabish), a
couple of smaller ones (the Sambusa
was great), as well as your standard
dessert fare. The food is served in a
traditional Ethiopian manner (you
eat with your hand, and it comes with
pancakes) and you can even finish off
your meal with ‘Ceremonial Ethiopian
Coffee, The Traditional Way,’ which en-
tails a meticulously re-enacted fifteen
minute long coffee roasting/making
ceremony that’s heavy on aroma and
surpassed only by the actual coffee you
get at the end.
Located in the old Flúðir tourist centre,
Minilik is a small and relatively charm-
ing restaurant that manages to spice
up the ‘summer cottage’ style interior
and exterior with Ethiopian posters
and f lare.
We should note that the pricing
policy is very moderate.
A welcome addition
After we enjoyed a fine meal at Mini-
lik (and then enjoyed snickering at our
fellow Ring Road travellers that were
making do with unsavoury sjoppa
burgers at that very moment) we talked
to owner and proprietor Azeb Khasai,
who founded the restaurant along with
her husband, Árni Magnús Hannes-
son, her sister Lemlem Khasai and her
husband, Yirga Meiconnen.
Azeb is a charming woman in her
late thirties. We converse in Icelan-
dic, and we learn that she is originally
from Addis Ababa, but has lived in Ice-
land for over three years. She says she
learned her cooking skills from her
mother, and that she met her husband
(and restaurant co-owner Árni Magnús
while working as an Au Pair in Reykja-
vík a few years back.
She tells us she enjoys running
the restaurant and that they have been
very busy since opening for business
this June. “We import the spices and
such from Ethiopia, but otherwise we
use mostly use local ingredients,” she
replies when we ask if getting all the
proper stuff for the Ethiopian dishes
is hard on such a remote island. She
laughs a lot during our conversation,
and confirms our suspicion that Ice-
landers will often have trouble under-
standing that Ethiopian food is meant
to be consumed without the use of
forks or spoons. They’ll get it, eventu-
ally.
Minilik will be open every day except Monday
over the summer, but will likely only operate on
weekends this winter. For more info call 846 9798.
Finally! Ethiopian Food In Flúðir!
3
New restaurant Minilik serves up
traditional Ethiopian delights
Hönnunarstaðall
100%
20%
Happy camper provided by: Happy Campers, Rofabær 9, 110 Reykjavik
Tel ( + 354 ) 5787860 - www.happycampers.is - info@happycampers.is