Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.03.2012, Qupperneq 43

R E V I E W S
Eyrarbraut 3, 825 Stokkseyri, Iceland · Tel. +354 483 1550
Fax. +354 483 1545 · info@fjorubordid.is · www.fjorubordid.is
At the Restaurant Fjöruborðið in Stokkseyri
> Only 45 minutes drive from Reykjavík
By the
sea and
lobster
a delicios
Nam is a curiosity. Nam offers a
Pan-Asian fusion menu designed by a
chef coming straight from top shelf Mi-
chelin restaurants like Opera Källaren
in Stockholm. But it also happens to be
a fast-food place located in a gas station
in the suburbs, and is run by the same
people that brought us the fast food
Tex-Mex place Serrano. The name is
similarly dualistic, it either represents
the Icelandic acronym NAM (“Ný Asísk
Matseld” = new Asian cuisine) or the
abbreviation for “Vietnam,” you know,
the one favoured by battle-gnarled
veterans frothing about ordnance and
agent orange through their straggly
street-preacher beards.
Let me note that I am big fan of
Vietnamese and Thai food, but not as
much of a fan of the type of the typi-
cal Pan-Asian kitchens we’ve had in
Iceland up until now, that usual drab
selection of overcooked pork in syrupy
mystery sauce. So you can imagine the
orientalist swoon when I heard NAM
would be offering Bánh mì, real dump-
lings and bento boxes (none of which
have been steadily available in Iceland
until now). So on one hand this was
happy news, but seeing it all jumbled
together on the same menu brought
flashbacks of mystery pork sauce.
I remain equally divided about the
quality of the location. It’s frustrating
in one sense, as I personally never
have any business up in Árbær, and I
don’t work in the vicinity. But the area
is loaded with businesses and wedged
between two popular residential neigh-
bourhoods and the gas station that
houses it is located by the main artery
out of town, right before the road forks
into the eastbound and westbound
path.
So the wife and I took a seat by
the Formica and started to load it
with everything they had. A melange
menu calls for a melange gavage! This
totalled: 2x Lychee ice-teas (150 ISK),
6x dumplings (300 ISK/3 dumplings),
1x chicken banh mi (1190 ISK), 2x
Vietnamese spring rolls (300 ISK) and
a bento box with ribs, edamame, rice,
mixed wok veggies (1790 ISK for a
bento of your choice).
The Lychee ice-tea was fantastic,
like sour lemonade with a lychee tail.
The dumplings were searing hot with
a nice savoury filling, but they were too
doughy and didn’t have enough filling
for my taste—think jiaozi or gunmandu
rather than wonton.
The banh mi was too adventurous
for me. In a country with no banh mi
culture, I would have been happy to see
a traditional one before expanding into
fusion territory. The classic banh mi
consists of a light baguette, coriander
(cilantro), fresh mayo, chillies, soy
sauce, lightly pickled carrots and/or
daikon, cucumbers and then usually
either spicy pork or chicken (pâté or
head meat if you want to go really tra-
ditional). The NAM banh mi was nicely
spicy, the bang bang sauce was awe-
some and the chicken was well cooked.
But the bread was too dense and I
don’t feel like sesame seeds belong on
the baguettes (sesame seeds seemed
to blanket everything on the menu).
I’m also not convinced that kimchi
(fermented cabbage) was a necessary
substitute for the carrots. Not the best
banh-mi I’ve had, but if I have a craving
and am in the neighbourhood I can see
myself relenting.
Spring rolls were the fresh Viet-
namese kind in rice paper rather than
the deep-fried ones some may be used
to. They are basically like a salad tube
for dipping into a sauce of your choice.
Definitely order a couple of those on
the side. The NAM ones were heavy on
cabbage and red leaf lettuce and tasted
faintly of marzipan.
The bento box was the real head-
scratcher. I am not an expert in
Japanese cuisine, but I have always
considered the bento to be a lunch box,
traditionally made by the homemaker
for a working spouse. Bentos are clev-
erly designed, with separate compart-
ments where single portion items are
placed in a way that provides a balanced
diet and pleases the eye. Think of those
graphics we get in the West of the ideal
portions of meat and veg arranged on a
segmented plate…it’s basically that, but
in real life.
A bento can be anything you want
it to be so there’s no reason to get dog-
matic.
The NAM bento is a success as far
as I’m concerned. Great slow-cooked
beef and blackened ribs with a distinct
star anise flavour. The edamame was
crispy and cooked with soy sauce and
Szechuan pepper. Even my nemesis the
cauliflower was edible.
Overall NAM is a strange beast and
I’m still not decided on all of it. I felt
they strayed too far from tradition and
the meal could have been more filling
but there are a lot of new flavours you
won’t find elsewhere in Reykjavík and
as things go it is a pretty healthy choice.
NAM could be a pipe-dream but I could
also see this taking off worldwide with
some minor adjustments.
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.
OM NOM NAM
What We Think: A fairly solid
Asian fusion take-out. Healthy
and light. The bento box is a
curious addition to the fast food
culture
Flavour: Vietnamese-Japanese,
peppery, anise, nutty, veggie
Ambiance: I’d recommend take-
out
Service: Fine
Price: (for two): 4.000 ISK (ap-
prox.)
NAM
N1 Bíldshöfða 2, 110 Reykjavík