Reykjavík Grapevine - 21.09.2012, Blaðsíða 50

1/10 The Best Restaurant in Iceland
the best thai food
year 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012
w w w . b a n t h a i . n a m e
BanThai
B
an
T
ha
i
......................................
te
l:
69
2-
05
64
Ban Thai is the finest Thai restaurant in Iceland
w w w . y u m m y . i s
Laugavegur 130, ofan við Hlemm
w
w
w.
ba
nt
ha
i.n
am
e
by Ragnar Egilsson
F D
For your mind, body and soul
R E V I E W
If you are an Icelander born before
the 1980s, then prepare to be subtly
prodded into a k-hole of nostalgia when
you enter Fish Company. The brushed
copper, the perfectly pitched ‘60s and
‘70s mood music that would have been
perfectly at home in a Wes Anderson
movie, the mustard-coloured seats
and vintage commemorative plates
celebrating Icelandic municipalities
to hold your bread. But I can’t say it
ever feels too ornate or unwelcom-
ing—the kitchen is open and has a
window facing the street (they also have
a live webcam of their kitchen on their
website) and the rough stone walls are
covered with a rainbow of post-its that
guests are encouraged to write on. Al-
though they probably should have left it
at that—I’m not sure it was necessary to
include another wall with multilingual
writing done in a marker pen or a third
wall layered with instant photos.
We decided on three starters to
share: the sushi plate (2,800 ISK), the
tuna with vanilla, parsnip purée and
pineapple (3,300 ISK), and the whale
with peaches, jalapeno and crispy oat-
meal (2,700 ISK).
The whale was ultra rare and flash
seared. The watermelon was lightly
marinated and the peaches were fresh
and played off nicely with the meat. It
was excellent and even my wife, who
normally doesn’t like whale, thought so.
The tuna was another savoury plate
with fruit for balance. This was an
impressive original dish but didn’t work
quite as well—the pineapple blanketed
the other flavours and the vanilla was
barely noticeable. The tuna was excel-
lent.
The sushi was the biggest let-down.
The cuts were torn, uneven and wafer-
thin, the rice was off the mark and the
maki was so dull I barely noticed it.
But the tuna and salmon sashimi were
impressively fresh despite the visual ap-
pearance. Overall, I’d say skip the sushi.
My main course was the beer-rolled
and lobster-filled arctic char, fried scal-
lop, apple butter and turnip spaghetti
(4,700 ISK). I didn’t really notice the
lobster filling and the scallop didn’t take
up a lot of space. But the char collapsed
under the fork like butter on laxatives
(sous-vide?). Freaking masterful. The
Guinness jelly was a great idea and I
could have used a little more of it.
Her main course was the “Hawai-
ian” one, a fried monkfish with rum
and grilled langoustine with pumpkin
purée, bacon-wrapped date, shellfish
foam and orange glaze (4,800 ISK).
First of all, not sure where they’re
getting Hawaii from as none of these
ingredients is particularly Hawaiian.
Secondly, although I have nothing but
praise for how they handled the fish,
these people clearly know their way
around the protein, I must say there
was too much puree on that plate for
such a modern restaurant. Thirdly, I
couldn’t locate that date and I could
have done without the foam. Fish
Company isn’t the worst offender, but
I’d love to see this aging foam trend
disappear.
The dessert options are awesome
at Fish Company. Very few places in
Iceland pay much attention to it but
here we have six dessert choices—al-
most as many as the starters. And they
all look inventive and cool. Considering
that and all the fruity ingredients in the
main courses, I wouldn’t be surprised
if the head chef’s background was in
pastry.
I picked the sponge cake and
liquorice brulée with anise milk foam,
banana ganache and dulce de leche ice
cream (1,590 ISK). Don’t be scared off
by the liquorice, it takes up about 1%
of the plate. I loved this dish, recalled
bread pudding, tres leches and bon-
bons. But watch out as it’s really filling.
She had the tiramisu with raspberry
and caramel chocolate cream, crunchy
butter almond and ice coffee (1,790
ISK). Excellent dessert as well, although
the ice coffee was too creamy and thick
for my tastes.
The servers were more casual than,
for example, at Lækjarbrekka, but they
carefully explained the theme and
ingredients of each dish and the service
was fast and unobtrusive.
If you were a fan of The Seafood
Cellar (RIP) then you will continue to
find a lot to like at Fish Company.
Fish Company!
(Not The Fish Market)
Fish Company
Vesturgata 2a (C3)
Tel: +354 552 5300
www.fiskfelagid.is
info@fiskfelagid.is
Mon–Sun: 11am–11.30pm
What we think
Love it! Big old wine list.
Flavour:
All over the place but with a
(mostly) helpful country guide
Ambiance:
We could only get a table at
18:00 so it was empty. Nice ‘70s
ambiance.
Service:
Casual, explained everything in
detail.
Price for 2 (with drinks):
20–26,000 ISK
Fish Company (Fiskfélagið) is that really good seafood place you’ve heard
so much about that is not Fish Market (Fiskmarkaðurinn). Everyone has
gotten the two mixed up at some point so here’s a quick primer. Both
restaurants share a liking for fish and a disliking for definite articles
in the English language. Fish Market is on two floors, with an Asian-
inspired menu and is the tropical sister restaurant to Grill Market (Hrefna
Sætran helms both). Fish Company is below ground level, with that nice
little pond thing in front and has a mostly Icelandic-themed cuisine, but
likes to divide the menu by the main ingredient’s country of origin. I hope
that clears things up.