Reykjavík Grapevine - 10.04.2015, Síða 55

“ 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 “
top ten the best restaurants in Iceland
the finest thai restaurant in Iceland
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
BanThai
w w w . b a n t h a i . i s
banthai @ banthai . is L
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NEW AWARDS
BEST THAI FOOD
2 0 1 4
also. . . .
DV.17.07.11
best goddamn restaurant 2011
the best thai food
FOOD
FOR YOUR MIND BODY AND SOUL
Frederiksen is a little bit of everything:
brunch spot in the morning, a coffee-
house during the day, a gastropub in the
evenings and live music on the week-
ends.
The space was formerly haunted
by dive rock bar Amsterdam, with its
shady secret room in the basement,
biker types, trashed hipsters, slot ma-
chines, and persistent rumours of mon-
ey laundering. The kind of place you'd
go after saying goodbye to your dignity,
packing it a lunch, and buying it a one-
way plane ticket to Blackoutistan.
That said, Amsterdam always of-
fered a solid live venue for up-and-
coming rock bands and I'm glad to see
Frederiksen intend to continue the
tradition, judging by their little concert
nook. Let's hope they follow through on
that promise.
Frederiksen is a Danish name but
the Danish influence isn't too over-
whelming. Which is fortunate as I feel
we’re at capacity with Mikkeller &
Friends and Den Danske Kro.
The gilded frames on a teal back-
ground do feel vaguely Danish, as does
the wood panelling behind the bar, but
both elements are offset by a huge old-
timey illustrated map of Iceland behind
the stage (*bites knuckles and whispers
the national anthem*).
What Frederiksen is, is a reasonably
hip gastropub that doesn’t dip elbow-
deep into endlessly popular Americana.
They even managed to resist gutting
the place to the rafters and pasting a pig
on the logo.
On the topic of reasonableness—I
was stuck by refreshingly affordable
menu prices. This may be a ploy to
wrangle in the first batch of regulars
but I ain’t complaining.
Overall the Frederiksen cocktails
are on the sweet side but far better than
I had expected from a self-proclaimed
ale house. Stand-outs were the “Jan
Frederiksen,” some swing at the cuba
libre with a hint of bitters, and the “Ale
House Caipriniah.” Their Caipriniah
substitutes cachaça with Brennivín,
which is a trick veteran boozehounds
will recognize as one of the best ways to
mask the Brennivín flavour for the un-
initiated (a grapefruit will also do the
job).
Frederiksen claims to have one
of the largest selections of draft beer
in Iceland, but as far as I could see, it
seemed on par with what’s on offer at
Bunk Bar. Skúli Craft Bar, Microbar,
and American Bar have it beat in that
department. Unfortunately, I didn't get
a chance to check out their bottle selec-
tion.
Having said that, beer featured
heavily in all of the courses, in fact it
seems that if there was any semi-ratio-
nal way to justify dousing the meal with
beer, they’d had a go.
We ordered the Beer Platter (3,690
ISK), which came overflowing with a
sampling of their bar snacks. It featured
a pair of great sliders with toasted black
sesame bread and a deep umami fla-
vour, napalm-crispy pale ale tempura
chicken wings with a coating of a no-
frills BBQ-sauce, babyback ribs, and
fantastic steamed buns with pulled
pork. Not only were the buns great but,
to the best of my knowledge, K-Bar has
been the only place with steamed buns
as a fixed menu item until now. You
can’t have too many of those sweet-
and-savoury pillows of joy.
The beer platter had been surpris-
ingly filling so we settled on splitting a
Frederiksen burger (2,290 ISK). It came
wedged between dark porter bread and
accompanied by Scandinavian sweet
pickles, red onions and a pile of sweet
potato fries. Not the absolute best I’ve
had in Reykjavík, but top three for sure.
Finally, don’t forget to check out
their basement area like I did. It looked
really nice in their Facebook banner
photo.
Like Sushi Samba For Dudes
RAGNAR EGILSSON
ART BICNICK
What We Think:
While not world class, it is the
best all-around gastropub in
Reykjavík at the moment in
terms of price, service, food,
and drinks
Flavour:
UK/USA fare with a Nordic
veneer
Ambiance:
For after-work-drinks and
pregaming
Service:
Solid-to-great
Price for 2 (with drinks):
6.000-8.000 ISK
Frederiksen
Hafnarstræti 5, 101 Reykjavík
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