Reykjavík Grapevine - 12.08.2011, Side 59

When you find a bar/restaurant named
Íslenski barinn (The Icelandic Bar) in
the capital of Iceland there are probably
two thoughts that come to mind: One, it
is a tacky tourist trap cynically attempt-
ing to second guess the demands of the
tourist industry, or two, it's clunky pa-
triotism wrapped in cloying nostalgia
serving homogenized versions of my
amma's waffles and serving it to some-
one else's amma at a healthy mark-up.
Íslenski barinn fits comfortably in the
second category (the obscure references
to Icelandic history are a tell), but don't
let that discourage you because Íslenski
barinn is doing a heck of a job with the
Icelandic classics.
Íslenski barinn rests somewhere
between a trattoria and a restaurant.
They've taken classic themes from New
Nordic cuisine, simplified them and
even dropped a few clichés (like Italian
dessert varieties using Skyr) while fall-
ing headfirst into others (dusting with
roasted rye bread crumbles). They are
far down the food chain from a place
like Noma or Texture, but are upholding
the underlying principles of New Nordic
cuisine, such as reviving local dishes,
sourcing for fresh ingredients straight
from the producer, finding new uses for
old ingredients and looking for potential
new ones, being diverse, local, demo-
cratic, seasonal and exhibiting only the
faintest whiff of ethnocentrism.
Wall to ceiling, the place is adorned
with traditional handicrafts and an in-
teresting array of photos that, surpris-
ingly, showcases the full spectrum of
Icelandic culture—from masticating
horses in the midnight sun to teargas
canisters in mid-f light during the 1949
NATO protest.
I am ecstatic about the rapid increase
in microbreweries in Iceland and Íslen-
ski barinn is the only place I’m aware of
that offers the full selection. Something
me and my dinner companion took
full advantage of. I chose Norðankaldi,
which is a medium bitter ale with a dis-
tinct caramel taste and was pleasantly
surprised. Had too many of those to re-
member what she had.
The menu is a little on the large
side. It’s two pages short of being a din-
ner menu and that’s not the vibe they
want to be going for but the prices are
very reasonable. After a long delibera-
tion she decided on the Seafood Feast
prix fixe (3.990 ISK for two courses and
4.450 ISK for three), which included a
shellfish soup, roasted Arctic Char and
a chocolate cake. I decided on ‘Hvalur 6’
(whale dish named after the controver-
sial whaling boat—1.630 ISK) and ‘Út-
laginn’ (a puffin, duck and char combo
platter named after the great 1981 realist
Viking film—3.990 ISK).
First course. Here is where we no-
ticed the lack in table service despite
five to six people manning the f loor. We
were relaxed and in no hurry, but the
frequent reminders for drink orders and
table clearing started to wear thin as the
night went on.
Luckily, the fish soup more than
made up for it. A well-stocked bowl of
liquid joy and a big, mouth filling f la-
vour. I am not a big fan of whale meat
but despite that (and my mixed feelings
about the hunting of minke whale), I
have to admit that the ‘Hvalur 6’ dish
of smoked and cured whale was glori-
ous. I can confidently say that the cured
whale was the best whale I’ve had and
the smoked whale ranks second.
For the main course, it would seem
that they re-purposed the shellfish soup
as a sauce for the arctic char. These
kinds of shenanigans I would let slide
if we had randomly chosen these dishes
together ourselves, but as part of a prix
fixe it's a ridiculous thing to do. The
soup was great, the fish was great, but
never the twain shall meet. Fix the prix
fixe plz!
My portion of lightly-smoked puf-
fin, roasted char and slow-grilled duck
combo could have been a little more gen-
erous despite reasonable pricing. I am
in the minority in Iceland that likes the
f lavour of seabirds and felt the lightly-
smoked puffin did too good of a job of
disguising that f lavour. The grilled duck
was actually a rillette served on a bent
spoon without a discernible purpose
(did they expect me to wolf down the
whole thing in one bite?). The duck was
fine, but I wouldn’t pick this plate again.
We picked a dessert that never ar-
rived and this was, I regret to say, symp-
tomatic for the service that night. In a
way I felt bad for the guy as he was ob-
viously new on the job and it reminded
me a bit of myself (full disclosure: I tried
waiting for a couple of months before it
turned out that I am the worst waiter in
the known universe).
So while the service I got was not
where it needed to be, I would definitely
consider this place next time I’m show-
ing foreign visitors around.
PATRIOT GRUB!
(IT’S HARD TO EAT WITH ONE HAND OVER THE HEART)
RAGnAR EGILSSOn
ALÍSA KALYAnOVA
R E V I E W S
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.
Whales are being killed to feed tourists
Don’t let your visit leave a bad taste in your mouth
What We Think: Quality
ingredients, locally sourced and
well handled. But wouldn’t go
there if it wasn’t for the food.
Flavour: Nordic, balanced,
moderately innovative
Ambiance: Patriotic, homely
Service: Not as good as the food
Website: Ugly. Unnavigable. PDF
menus.
Íslenski Barinn
(The Icelandic Bar)
Hafnarstræti 1-3, 101 Reykjavík