Reykjavík Grapevine - 01.03.2013, Blaðsíða 38

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Located by the old harbor
Relaxed atmosphere
Live Music on weekends
Cold beer - wine
Affordable food and snacks
Breakfast from 8 A.M
Homemade cakes
We roast our own coffee!
Café Haítí, Geirsgötu 7b, 101 Reykjavík. Tel 588 8484
Opening hours Mon-Thu 8-18 Fri-Sat 9-23 Sundays 10-18
See our website
www.cafehaiti.is
by Ragnar Egilsson
Fish Market was a trailblazer. An innova-
tive, modern, fun, high-end, seafood res-
taurant with Icelandic ingredients and an
Asian bent. Piloted by wunderkind Hrefna
Sætran, the first female chef/restaurateur
to rise to prominence in Iceland. But lately
Fish Market has been overshadowed by
her other venture, The Grill Market. So
the question on my mind when I visited
Fish Market in November of last year, was
whether The Grill Market’s success had
caused them to neglect the first born. The
short answer: Maybe.
Me and my new favourite dining
partner, my mom, were seated in the
basement, surrounded by the now-familiar
design that blends Icelandic materials and
subtle references to the Asian continent in
a way that reflects the culinary chimeras
on the menu. But the design can no longer
keep up with the wow-factor at work at
The Grill Market, and it all seems a little
obvious in 2013.
Tom Waits sounded from the stereo,
the ambiance was comfortable and the
service, throughout the night, was beyond
reproach.
As a starter, I picked one of the house
specialties, the king crab claws with chilli
mayonnaise (3,900 ISK). Mom picked the
lychée-glazed smoked puffin with fig and
cumin jam (2,800 ISK).
Warning to those ordering the crab
claws: those on first row will get wet.
There is no dainty way of eating crab
claws, but without the proper implements
it feels like you’re field dressing one of the
arachnids from Starship Troopers with
a baseball bat. It wouldn’t kill them to
provide customers with a lobster fork. The
crab was decent, but the sauce was a bland
version of the spicy tuna mayo that seems
to be squirted on everything sushi-like
these days. However, the portion was mas-
sive and the dish was more impressive for
the fact that this is something you would
never be able to make at home in Iceland.
The lychée glaze and fig jam with the
puffin were excellent, but dominated the
innocent little puffin. And my mom felt it
was too salty—and she’s of a generation
where people would eat a block of salt as
an appetizer.
Between courses, we decided to share
a small sushi platter (Christmas special—
price not available). My mom has taken
to sushi (although she still insists on
using a fork) and I wanted to see how they
handled a straight Japanese plate without
all the bells and whistles.
The sushi turned out to be the biggest
letdown of the night.
The Christmas maki were completely
ridiculous. The uramaki were rolled into
dry and squished rice. The addition of
pineapple was uninspired and the smoked
trout was redundant. The tuna was dry
and flavourless, even by Icelandic sushi
standards. The only half-decent thing pres-
ent were the small, pale-orange scallops,
but they were a little fishy (and not in the
good drag queen way).
My mom’s main course was a grilled
monkfish with a squash purée (4,600 ISK).
Again, the sides outshone the main the
attraction. The purée was delicious and
the sides were very well balanced. But the
monkfish was rather dry. A good dish, but
not as good as it could have been.
I had the tuna steak pakoda (5,900
ISK). At first I thought it was a spelling
error and I’d be getting a Japanese style
tiered “pagoda” tower of tuna steaks. I was
disappointed to find it was just the Indian
potato and onion fritters. It was a tangle
of fried onion similar to a Swiss rösti.
The tuna was very lightly seared, and the
tomato and lime brought the flavour close
to a ceviche and it was far better than the
sushi tuna had been.
For dessert, I had the sorbet and a se-
lection of fruit (1,600 ISK). It wasn’t quite
as inviting as the pictures in the menu,
but still miles above the fruit salad one
usually gets. And the sorbet was delicious.
Mom had the cinnamon apple cake
with caramel sorbet and cinnamon
caramel sauce (1.900 ISK). Not bad, but
too sweet and a bit of an overkill in my
opinion. However, my mom quite liked it.
What’s the verdict, doc? Is Fish Market
on its last legs (fins?). No. The place still
has a lot to offer and there are exception-
ally talented people working behind the
scenes. This seems more the case of them
taking the eye off the ball while the new
baby is taking its first steps. Pan-Asian-
Icelandic-Nordic thingamajig may seem
like a muddled concept to some, but it
hides a unique and clear vision and there
is no other restaurant in Iceland sitting at
this table.
Something Out Of Plaice
What we think
A trend-setting power-house in
need of an arse-kick
Flavour:
Pan-Asian-Icelandic-Nordic
thingamajig
Ambiance:
A busy forest clearing
Service:
Helpful, smiling, knowledgeable,
good flow.
Price for 2 (with drinks):
20-30.000 ISK
Fish Market
Aðalstræti 12
Tel: (+354) 578 8877
fiskmarkadurinn.is
info@fiskmarkadurinn.is
Lunch hours (mon-fri): 11:30am – 14:00
Dinner hours (mon-sun): 18:00 – 23:30
“It should be possible to build a pagoda of crispbread, to think of nothing, to hear no thunder, no rain, no
splashing from the gutter, no gurgling around the house. Perhaps no pagoda will emerge, but the night will
pass.” -Man in the Holocene by Max Frisch
RAGNAR EGILSSON
ALÍSA KALYANOVA
F D
For your mind, body and soul