Reykjavík Grapevine - 08.11.2013, Blaðsíða 25

25
Árni Árnason is a musician who likes
a good Bloody Mary.
“Homemade tomato puree
served in a jam jar with a
spoon, it resembled a thick
gazpacho type soup more
than a drink.”
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Lækjarbrekka is a classic Icelandic Restaurant situated
in heart of old Reykjavík, Lækjarbrekka specialises in
Icelandic cuisine with a la carte menu and first
rate service.
Bankastræti 2 - 101 Reykjavík - Tel. (+354) 551 4430
info@laekjarbrekka.is - www.laekjarbrekka.is
Icelandic Cuisine
The only kitchen
in Reykjavík open
to 23:30 on weekdays
and 01:00 on weekends Vesturgata 3B | 101 Reykjavík | Tel: 551 2344 | www.tapas.is
RESTAURANT- BAR
Taste the best
of Iceland ...
5.990 ikr.
... with a spanish undertone
Icelandic Gourmet Fiest
Starts with a shot of the infamous
Icelandic spirit Brennívín
Than 6 delicious Icelandic tapas:
Smoked puffin with blueberry
“brennivín” sauce
Icelandic sea-trout with peppers-salsa
Lobster tails baked in garlic
Pan-fried line caught blue ling
with lobster-sauce
Grilled Icelandic lamb Samfaina
Minke Whale with cranberry & malt-sauce
To finish our famous Desert:
White chocolate "Skyr" mousse
with passion fruit coulis
This spicy little comfort blanket is
not a drink I was particularly accus-
tomed to before moving to the UK a
few years ago, so I set out with mini-
mal hopes and as expected, hit a few
speed bumps along my way. A couple
of interesting takes on the drink were
to be found at places that don’t open
till after 6 o’clock, which completely
defeats the point of selling a univer-
sal hangover cure. In addition to that,
I came across a few places which
had been drunk completely dry by
the Iceland Airwaves patrons. They
therefore couldn’t serve me one even
if they wanted to. But this isn’t par-
ticularly surprising. For a country that
legalised beer in 1989 and has only
recently come to terms with the idea
of a “glass-of-wine-over-dinner,” our
drinking culture doesn’t provide much
leeway for people who enjoy a break-
fast drink. And as it turns out, Icelan-
dic law apparently prohibits serving
alcoholic drinks before noon. That on
its own cuts acceptable Bloody Mary
time from five to three hours (until this
experiment, I had never had a Bloody
Mary after 3 o’clock).
Snaps
I found my first Bloody Mary around
2 o’clock in the afternoon at a bistro
called Snaps. My order sparked the
day’s first of many desperate searches
for celery to garnish my drink, but after
it was found I was served a perfectly
acceptable, yet non-descript, airport
bar type Bloody Mary. The usual sus-
pects, Tabasco and Worcester sauce,
were elevated by the addition of Ice-
land’s own Reyka vodka, which is head
and shoulders over most of the bot-
tom-shelf vodkas I was yet to be treat-
ed to. The surroundings, the relatively
reasonable price (1,800 ISK) and the
vodka selection make Snaps’ Bloody
Mary your best bet if you’re trying to
find a place where your drinks order
won’t spark subtle judgment from your
fellow customers.
Slippbarinn
Prior to this mission of mine I had
been told by various sources that I’d
find Reykjavik’s best Bloody Mary at
Slippbarinn. Not completely willing
to blow my load this early in the day
I tried to order one at various hostels
and bars on my way down there. Kex?
No tomato juice. Bunk Bar? Nada.
Bast? Maybe in a few weeks. This
fruitless roam around town meant that
I didn’t have my next Bloody Mary un-
til 4ish. Slippbarinn’s version of this
drink is a perfect example of how far
you can stretch its recipe. Homemade
tomato puree served in a jam jar with
a spoon, it resembled a thick gazpa-
cho type soup more than a drink. It
contained pepper infused vodka and
soy sauce and was beautifully gar-
nished with ginger, a slice of lemon
and lightly pickled and shaved celery.
A very interesting take albeit way too
much of a meal to serve its function as
“hair of the dog.” It was by quite some
distance the most intricate Bloody
Mary I’ve had and at 2,200 ISK, it was
bizarrely not the most expensive drink
of the day.

Laundromat
Some of the best Bloody Marys I’ve
enjoyed have come from dive-y Ameri-
can diners that you’d never associate
with great cocktail making, and whilst
Laundromat could not be referred
to as a dive, it is a pretty straight up
American diner, and I therefore had to
try. My 17:30 order sparked another
frantic search for garnish and whilst
my bartender’s colleagues looked for
celery, he proceeded to put a splash of
Cointreau in my otherwise fairly stan-
dard Bloody Mary. I’m not one to turn
my nose at experimental cocktail mak-
ing, but sickly sweet orange liqueur
mixed with tomato juice and Tabasco?
I ended up ordering a beer and leav-
ing my 2,100 ISK cocktail pretty much
untouched.
101
Having already covered a hotel bar, I
didn’t really feel like going to 101 Hotel
for a drink, but after wandering around
for forty or so minutes without finding
anything, I was forced to admit de-
feat and reluctantly roamed towards
the-way-too-swanky-for-my-liking
101. With expensive cocktails, expen-
sive looking furniture and expensive
sounding lounge jazz, 101 is the type
of place that made me feel dirty upon
entering and even dirtier as I ordered
a brunch drink around 19:30 in the
evening. Shame on me. Seeing as 101
boasts a fairly extensive cocktail menu
that actually includes a Bloody Mary, I
was pretty shocked when my drink ar-
rived void of any garnish or spice. A
shot of Absolute vodka mixed with to-
mato juice and nothing else of notice.
This was the budget airline version of
a Bloody Mary. Although at the crazy
price of 2,350 ISK it could hardly be
called budget.
So, where to turn in times
of need?
First of all, the main thing I took from
this experience is that nobody should
ever attempt to drink more than one,
or in severe cases, two Bloody Marys.
This adventure of mine started a whole
vicious cycle by leaving me in need of
another one the morning after. Terrible
idea.
If you are someone who thinks
they’ll be in need of a Bloody Mary
whilst roaming around town, my best
advice is to carry a bottle of chipotle
hot sauce wherever you go. A splash
of some smoky chilli would have made
all my drinks considerably more enjoy-
able. But failing that, I wouldn’t dare to
go anywhere but Slippbarinn or Snaps
to enjoy this particular tipple.
In order to nurse the wounds of Airwaves weekend,
I went on a Tuesday afternoon hunt for the elusive Ice-
landic Bloody Mary.
Hair Of The Dog That Bit Me
Árni Árnason
The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 17 — 2013