Reykjavík Grapevine - 21.09.2012, Síða 51

Iceland’s
Restaurant of the year
2009 & 2010
by the Nordic Prize
Nordic House Sturlugata 5 101 Reykjavik tel. +354 552 1522 www.dillrestaurant.is Open for lunch every day from 11.30 and for dinner wednesday to sunday from 19.00. Ó Ð I N S T O R G 1 0 1 R E Y K J A V Í K Í S L A N D S N A P S B I S T R O . I SS n a p s b i s t r o @ s n a p s b i s t r o . i s + 3 5 4 5 1 1 6 6 7 7
R E V I E W
Lækjarbrekka is in that black tar hut
at the end of Bankastræti, next to
the Ellis Island of tourist info kiosks.
The building has been part of down-
town Reykjavík since before Icelanders
knew how to spell “indoor plumbing”
and a generous man would date it
back to the 1830s. . And it all began
with the preservation of what a decade
later would be known as the restaurant
Lækjarbrekka.
What with all retro swagger, a cer-
tain amount of old school glamour is to
be expected. The wait staff are suitably
suited up, the interiors are bedecked
with references to our farming and
maritime history. It’s quite charming and
the service was as good as it gets.
Icelanders are more likely to seek
Lækjarbrekka out for its group menus
and banquet halls. Lækjarbrekka is one
of the default recommendations at the
city hotels, so foreign visitors are more
likely to drop in unannounced after a
day of excursions keeping the rescue
squads busy in the highlands.
When we arrived at Lækjarbrekka,
our server was helpfully illustrating
what a puffin was to a couple in their
late thirties using a taxidermy puffin.
They seemed equally concerned about
whether the lambs had led a rich, full
life in the wild before being butchered.
The place was warm and sedated, with
a rose on every table.
As a taster we chose the puffin with
blueberry chutney (950 ISK). Puffin is
not for everyone. My granddad on my
mother’s side would hunt the things
but otherwise wouldn’t touch the stuff.
Lækjarbrekka get their puffin from
Grímsey, up north, as puffin hunting
has been outlawed in the south. The
blueberries are wild Icelandic bilberries
(the season just ended). Regrettably,
the puffin was too dry for my tastes and
the chutney was much closer to a jam,
sweet and lacking in acid or spice.
My starter was a very lightly smoked
piece of lamb and a dark brown blue-
berry cured lamb rolled up like a papy-
rus, with horseradish and spruce sauce
and bits of ginger bread so packed with
cloves that it numbed the mouth (2,200
ISK). My wife picked what turned out to
be a surprisingly large portion of buttery
perfect-broiled langoustine, which has
been a fixed part of the menu for 20
years (3,650 ISK). Quite pricey for a
starter, though.
Lækjarbrekka have two moderately
interesting vegetarian choices on the
menu, which is more than I can say for
many non-vegetarian places in Reykja-
vík. I chose the orange-marinated yel-
low beet (tasted like rutabaga), roasted
red beets, asparagus and smoked
cherry tomatoes (3,300 ISK). The red
beets were nice but so salty and intense
that they overpowered the flavour of
individual vegetable. Asparagus is never
great in Iceland, so give that a miss. Still
better on the whole than I’d expected
and they get points for going the extra
mile. My wife had the arctic char with
fennel and hollandaise (3,990 ISK).
The skin on the char was perfect and
fat like pork crackling but the fish was
overdone and the fennel not as crisp as
it should have been. Good job on the
hollandaise.
Lækjarbrekka, more innovative than
I’d thought but dishes were lacking
that finishing touch. Old school charm
and professional service make up the
difference. Lækjarbrekka isn’t going
anywhere.
Just don’t ask them what a minke
whale is—I’d hate to see the poor waiter
have to roll a stuffed whale out of the
kitchen.
Eat Your Way Through
Iceland’s Fauna
Lækjarbrekka
Bankastræti 2 (E4)
Tel: +354 551 4430
www.laekjarbrekka.is
info@laekjarbrekka.is
Mon–Sun: 11:00–23:00
What we think
Whip off that anorak and have that
whale and shark like the guy at the
hotel said you should.
Flavour:
French-Icelandic. Classic, but not
boring.
Ambiance:
Foreign, 35–75, very calm.
Service:
Fast, friendly, well informed,
professional.
Price for 2 (with drinks):
17–22,000 ISK
Fancy
1 Hótel Holt
Bergstaðastræti 37 (F5)
The mother of all deals. Seriously.
A three-course meal of French fine
cuisine for what you paid in the
parking meter outside. Veal and
porcini, duck confit, arctic char with
vanilla glaze.
Duration: 11:45 - 14:00
Damage: 3,500 ISK (three courses)
Budget
2 Shalimar (Indian)
Austurstræti 4 (E4)
Meat, kebab or vegetarian dish of the
day or smash it all together.
Duration: 11.30-15.00
Damage: 1,490 ISK
Healthy
3 Maður Lifandi
Borgartún 24 (F5)
Hilariously detailed description of
ingredients on the website. Haven't
tried this but the deal looks pretty
decent. All organic of course, healthy
and an all day deal.
Duration: 9:00 - 20:00
Damage: 1,690-1,890 ISK
Sweet lunch deals that aren’t total
junk food in the city that never
sleeps (except for those nine
months when it totally hibernates
and we get super depressed and
stuff)
WHAT’S THE
(LUNCH)
DEAL, YO?
Compiled by Ragnar Egilsson