Reykjavík Grapevine - 13.04.2012, Qupperneq 50

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For your mind, body and soul
1/10 The Best Restaurant in Iceland
Thai Fusion Food
the best goddamn restaurant 2011
the best thai food
One price 1000 kr.
tel: 588-2121
www.banthai.name
Hverfisgata 123 við Hlemm
year 2009, 2010 and 2011
BanThai
Laugavegur 130 ofan við Hlemm
www.yummiyummi.net
tel: 55-22-444, 692-0564
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is
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.
When I heard about Gandhi I imme-
diately welcomed the idea even before
looking at the menu. Reykjavík only
has one proper Indian restaurant, the
wonderful Austur-Indíafjelagið, which
focuses mostly on the northwestern part
of India (with a honourable mention
going to the lovely Pakistani restaurant
Shalimar). Gandhi’s emphasis is on
Kerala cuisine (Southwest India) and
the price range is somewhere between
Shalimar and Austur-Indíafjelagið.
Kerala is an Indian state, formerly
part of the feudal kingdom of Travan-
core (I just had to include that as it has to
be the coolest name of a kingdom ever).
Traditionally known for their spice pro-
duction, they produce loads and loads of
black pepper, vanilla and cardamom.
South-Indian cuisine can be divided
up a bit like a boy band. Andhra is the
spicy one, Karnataka is the sweet one,
Kerala is the nutty one and Tamil is...
eh... Justin Timberlake (?). Kerala cui-
sine is nutty both in the sense that it
uses coconuts with wild abandon and in
that its influences are maddeningly di-
verse as the region boasts a reasonably
large (mostly) non-vegetarian Christian
and Muslim community while the sur-
rounding regions are mostly Hindu
and/or vegetarian. As a result Kerala
people have a balanced diet high in veg-
etables and fish. The Kerala people eat
really well without abandoning taste
or freaking out over fibres and antioxi-
dants. Basically, they will have some-
thing for everyone, but rice, fish, pickles
and coconut feature prominently.
The head chef bears a passing resem-
blance to Ving Rhames (a resemblance
that grew stronger as the mixture of
curry and beer proceeded to “go medi-
eval on my ass” the following morning).
And according to their website, Tobba
Marínós, blogger, local celebrity and
avid Grapevine-reader is a big fan of
their cooking. Two notches already and
we still haven’t had a bite to eat.
The menu at Gandhi is a perfect
size for an Indian restaurant. As much
as I agree with Gordon Ramsey about
the simple two page menus, it simply
doesn’t apply here. No one in their right
mind goes to India for minimalism. In-
dia invented OTT. The menu is a solid
three-pager, which is perfect for anxiety
cases like myself who start chewing on
the curtains whenever they're provided
with more than three choices. The selec-
tion is about two-thirds Kerala and one-
third generic Indian (which is fine by
me).
I've been on a huge chutney binge
at home, putting chutney-coconut milk
sauces on everything from roasted veg-
etables to fried fish. So I started out with
the most perfect naan (390 ISK) that I
have had in a while (puffy, crispy, not
too oily) with a mild mango chutney on
the side (495 ISK).
For the first course my date had a
beautiful turmeric-coloured Masala
grilled fish (1590 ISK), which collapsed
on the fork and she immediately claimed
it was one of the better fish dishes she
had had here (wouldn’t go quite that far,
but definitely an excellent dish). I had
the mushroom fry (1560 ISK), which
was deep-fried button mushrooms—
simple little nuggets of ginger, garlic
and awesome.
For the main course my date had
the Mutton Malli Perala (3990 ISK), a
delicious boneless rack of lamb heavy
on onion and coriander and I picked the
Malabar Fish Curry (2990 ISK), which
is quite a traditional Kerala dish by all ac-
counts. I think the mutton should please
any meat-eater, but I’d heavily recom-
mend the fish dishes even if you’re not a
big fan of fish.
Simply dubbed “Indian dessert” (1050
ISK) was some variation on gajar ka
halwa (at least this time around). A
spicy carrot pudding with raisins and al-
monds served with ice cream and a slice
of French chocolate cake. Maybe they
figured that “carrot pudding” wouldn’t
sound appetising to Icelanders. But
fussy eaters, trust me, this is a really
tasty dessert. But I would have liked
to see more traditional dessert options
such as a sambharam ginger buttermilk
drink or vada donuts.
The only downsides I can think of
are that I would have liked more strictly
regional choices and more vegetarian
options. But other than that, Gandhi
offers an all-around great dining experi-
ence.
Valare upakaram, Gandhi!
RAGnAR EGILSSOn
ALÍSA KALYAnOVA
DELAY THE HUNGER STRIKE
What We Think: Delicious and a
welcome variety to the Icelandic
restaurant flora.
Flavour: Indian/Kerala. Think
Indian meets Indonesian. Coco-
nut, fish, coriander, lamb. Piquant
rather than simply spicy.
Ambiance: Cosy, romantic.
Service: A little erratic but spe-
cial praise for Lloyd the waiter for
friendly service bravery in the line
of fire during a packed restaurant
on a weekday.
Price: (2 people): 13-15.000 ISK
(with wine)
Ghandi
Pósthússtræti 17, 101 Reykjavík