Reykjavík Grapevine - 06.06.2014, Blaðsíða 58

There’s a great scene in the movie Office
Space where Jennifer Aniston’s character,
who works at a tacky restaurant, is pas-
sive aggressively reprimanded by her boss
for only wearing the minimum required
pieces of flair on her work vest, while
he expects her to bedazzle her entire
uniform to earn her minimum wage. The
restaurant Skrúður, a word most closely
translating to ‘flair,’ reminded me of this
scene in reverse. Rather than adorn itself
in tasteless embellishments for the sake
of impressing its customers, it had poise,
dignity and simple elegance.
Located off the lobby of Hótel Saga,
it is a vast, airy space surrounded by
floor-to-ceiling windows and a full-roof
skylight, and a clean, albeit slightly bland,
caramel and white table scheme each
topped with a single pink rose. It is most
certainly not a minimum wage kind of
joint.
Their menu consists primarily of a
modest Nordic buffet, which they offer
at lunch and dinnertime, plus a short à
la carte and kids’ menu. Our stoic and
professional waiter, Jónas, started by
expertly serving our drinks with one
hand, swirling my date’s Eintstök beer
bottle so precisely to get every last drop.
We both opted for the buffet and went to
help ourselves.
It was a very humble spread, consist-
ing of about a dozen salad items, five
cold appetizers, four main courses and
three main sides, plus a dessert table. I
started with a plate of creamy herring
topped with pickled onion, bulgur salad,
cold roast beef with lettuce and cherry
tomatoes, sautéed mushrooms, smoked
salmon and blue mussels with mandarins
and onions. My date had pickled herring
with red cabbage, bulgur salad, roast beef,
mushrooms, potato salad and corn. The
bulgur salad was particularly delicious,
with a nice sprinkling of fresh mint leaves
throughout. The cherry tomatoes were
remarkably good, sweet and bursting with
flavour. The mussels with mandarins and
onions were lovely, but a little hard to get
out of the shell. (I ended up with a bit of
shell in my mouth, but that was probably
my own fault.) My date was most fond of
the pickled herring with cabbage as well
as the bulgur salad.
Our first plates were cleared within
moments of our last bites, but not too
hastily either. We then went to get our
main courses. I had a piece of each of the
meats being served: roasted lamb leg,
roast pork, fried monkfish and glazed
turkey breast, with gravy on the lamb and
turmeric sauce on the fish, plus roasted
young potatoes and carrots and parsnips
on the side. My date had the lamb and
pork, with carrots and parsnips and an
extra serving of cold pasta salad.
All the meats were perfectly tender
but a little varying on the flavour. The
pork was a bit bland and under-seasoned
and a bit fatty. The monkfish was a bit
too watery and soft but the sauce gave it a
nice boost of salt and spice. The lamb was
the definite standout, cooked absolutely
to perfection and just lightly rubbed with
herbs and pepper. The roasted young
potatoes and carrots were just fine, but
I found the parsnips a little too bitter.
My date liked them, though, while he
thoroughly disliked the pork.
After a short breather to finish our
fizzy drinks, we cleared our palates
with dessert, as one does. The dessert
spread boasted both sweet and savoury
treats, which was nice in theory but not
very well executed. There were three
kinds of cake – chocolate, tiramisu and a
traditional Icelandic ‘sjónvarpskaka’ (TV
cake)—chocolate-walnut mouse, a fresh
fruit platter, cheeses and grapes, crackers
and spreads, inexplicable tortilla chips,
plus a sundae bar with four kinds of ice
cream (very much for the kids).
I had one piece of each cake plus the
mousse and some cheese and grapes. My
date had the tiramisu and chocolate cake
with a slice of pineapple. All three cakes
tasted flat-out store bought. The choco-
late cake was actually terrible, dry, pasty
and flavourless. The mousse was nice
but a little overpowering and I couldn’t
manage more than a couple of bites. The
sjónvarpskaka was the one surpris-
ingly good treat, with a sweet crispy top
crumble and a very moist coconutty cake.
The cheeses (blue and Camembert) were
served too cold, but cheese is cheese so no
complaints.
Aside from the underwhelming pork
and disappointing desserts, it was overall
lovely and satisfying. Where most buffets
fail by offering too many options and
cause one to overeat and feel sick, this
one provided just a small smattering of
comforting and fresh dishes that didn’t
fill me up at the first bite. It would be
perfectly fine if you just wanted a small
snack or wanted to go back for seconds,
thirds or fourths. But it is missing a little
bang for one’s buck, given that it isn’t a
cheap thrill. And they could go that extra
mile and wear a few extra pieces of flair.
m a n y f a m o u s p e o p l e a r e r e g u l a r s h e r e
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BanThai
w w w . b a n t h a i . i s
TopTen The Best Restaurant in Iceland
the best thai food
2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013
Ban Thai is the finest Thai restaurant in Iceland
Humble Brag
F D
For your mind, body and soul
RX BECKETT
NANNA DÍS
www.fabrikkan.is reservations: +354 575 7575
BE SQUARE AND BE THERE
PLEASED TO
MEAT YOU!
The Hamburger Factory is Iceland's
most beloved gourmet burger chain!
Our 15 square and creative burgers are made from
top-quality Icelandic beef and would love to "meat" you.
Reykjavík
The groundfloor of
Höfðatorg, the tallest
tower in Reykjavík, right
opposite Höfði
Akureyri
The groundfloor of
the historic Hotel Kea,
in the heart of the
city center
Our burgers are square - beef and bun!
Does it taste better? You tell us!
HERE WE ARE
ATTENTION
HAMB
URGER
FACT
ORY
TH E ICE"N DIC
What We Think:
A buffet with a lot of class and
self-control
Flavour:
Sunday brunch at your frændi’s place
Ambiance:
Laid back, luminous,
simple elegance
Service:
Graceful and stoic
Price for 2 (with drinks):
6,500 ISK at lunch, 13,000 ISK at
dinner, children under 12 eat for
free and kids 12–16 get 50% off
Skrúður
Hótel Saga, Hagatorg, 107 Reykjavík