Reykjavík Grapevine - 06.06.2014, Page 59

Hverfisgata 12 · 101 Reykjavík
Tel. +354 552 15 22 · www.dillrestaurant.is
Lífið er saltfiskur
#109 Dill is a Nordic restaurant with its
focus on Iceland, the pure nature and
all the good things coming from it.

It does not matter if it’s the
ingredients or the old traditions, we
try to hold firmly on to both.
There are not many things that make
us happier than giving life to old
traditions and forgotten ingredients
with modern technique and our creative
mind as a weapon.
1 0 1 Ó Ð I N S T O R G R E Y K J A V Í K Í S L A N D S N A P S B I S T R O . I S
s n a p s b i s t r o @ s n a p s b i s t r o . i s + 3 5 4 5 1 1 6 6 7 7
F R E N C H O N I O N S O U P
I c e l a n d i c Í s b ú i c h e e s e , c r o û t o n s
1 . 7 9 0 . k r
M O U L E S M A R I N I È R E S
s t e a m e d m u s s e l s f r o m B r e i ð a f j ö r ð u r
1 . 8 0 0 . k r
F I S H O F T H E D A Y
c h e f ´ s s p e c i a l
3 . 2 0 0 . k r
E s t . 2 0 1 2R e y k j a v i k
Kigali is a recently opened café named
after the capital and largest city of
the war-ridden African country of
Rwanda. It serves all the conventional
westernized versions of Italian Coffee,
the only difference being that their
Americano is called an "Africano." A
small number of sweets are on offer to
enjoy with your coffee, served in bite-
size pieces that are easy to take along
with the take-away coffee.
In addition to serving coffee and
sweets, a small variety of African
dishes are on offer as well as a chang-
ing soup of the day. "African dishes"
is of course pretty vague, and almost
insulting to a whole continent. The
problem is that it is very difficult to
pinpoint the dishes to any one par-
ticular region, as far as my knowledge
of African cuisine goes, which has
all derived from books. There are
no dishes that include cassava, for
example, which is the main staple in
Rwanda, along with sweet potatoes.
My companion and I both had
the soup of the day (990 ISK) and a
mix of the dishes (990 ISK) that were
on offer on a cloudy Monday in the
beginning of June. The soup was a
curry made out a base of chickpeas
and pumpkin that had been blitzed
to a smooth and lovely consistency.
It was especially tasty, actually, and
even had a fair amount of hot spice to
it, which was a pleasant surprise. It
was served with a homemade bread
bun, which I fear were made the day
before. Not bad at all, but not cracking
fresh either.
Sadly, as for as the meal goes,
the soup was the only dish that was
actually worth finishing. The other
sides included olive and rice mixed
together with absolutely no season-
ing. We had a creamy concoction of
corn, onion and bell peppers, which
had a crunch of an unidentifiable nut-
mixture that tasted like plastic. We
had an unappetising omelette that was
probably made the day before, and
then re-heated in a microwave. And,
finally, we had a curry-seasoned fish
(haddock is my guess, but can't really
be sure), which took the most cour-
age, as it had obviously been cooked at
least a day before, if not earlier. It was
cold and dry and... let's just leave it at
that.
As we tried to look on the bright
side, the soup, after all, was quite tasty
and the flagship dish, we decided to
finish the meal with a coffee. Both
of us ordered a latté macchiato to
get that deep taste of espresso that
we craved. The coffee however, was
average at best, which was a bit of a
disappointment. The bite-size French
chocolate cake, however, was creamy
and delicious, and had a strong taste
of chocolate, as it should.
My guess is that Kigali was opened
before their strategy was fully devel-
oped. The soup was good, but every-
thing else needs some fine-tuning.
The place itself could be tidier, to be-
gin with. And when I asked about cold
drinks on offer (maybe hoping for a
soda), the only thing on offer was the
sugary Icelandic juice box Svali. That
needs improvement right there. That
said, Kigali has a brilliant location,
and in my mind, if better executed, a
fine idea for an establishment. I really,
really wish them all the best and hope
that the fine-tuning will take place as
soon as possible.
Kigali Needs Fine-Tuning
BJÖRN TEITSSON
NANNA DÍS
What We Think:
African café/diner.
Flavour:
Sadly, not much
Ambiance:
Kitschy and colourful, but needs
improvement
Service:
One employee. Does his best.
Price for 2 (with drinks):
3–4,000 ISK
Kigali
Ingólfsstræti 8, 101 Reykjavík