Reykjavík Grapevine - 07.10.2016, Qupperneq 50

Awards For Best Thai Food Every Years
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BanThai
N E W A W A R D
B E S T T H A I F O O D 2 0 1 6
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ATTENTION :
Th
e
fo
od
an
d
se
rv
ice
w
ill
b
e
slo
w
er
w
he
n
th
er
e‘s
a
fu
ll h
ou
se

O
ur
fo
od
is
m
ad
e
fre
sh
fr
om
sc
ra
tc
h,
it
‘s
no
t p
re
-m
ad
e
All food is gently cooked from fresh ingredients
and that keeps its nutritional value and original avors well.
it takes time to cook all the food, nothing is ready
Please prepare your time before you come to enjoy your meal
R E S T A U R A N T
Ban Thai is not a “fast food” restaurant
every meal take some time to cook, we cook after receiving the order
Food
One thing Iceland does really well
is pizza. Hold on! Iceland? Yes,
Iceland. Iceland might be the only
place in the world where Domi-
no’s Pizza is good. There are many
theories as to why this is correct:
the water, ancient sourdough
starters passed down through a
secret society of bread makers for
a thousand years, or even market
pressure in a place where a slice of
pizza is the only reasonably priced
food item in the whole country.
Does a city—nay, a country—that
already runs on pizza, a dough-
mocracy, need another pizza joint?
Essensia is different. It’s not
your typical pizza place, nor is it a
specialty pizza place like Hvervis-
gata 12. Essensia is a Italian/Med-
iterranean restaurant built with
locals in mind. It’s a calm and so-
cial atmosphere with high ceilings
and huge front windows giving a
view of Arnarhólland Harpa. It’s
near the National Theatre. This
wasn’t a mistake. Its location is on
purpose.
“I want to build regulars,” said
Guy. “I want people to be able to
come here, grab a nice Neapolitan-
style pizza (nine-inch) and head
to the theatre, if they only have an
hour. They can also share as well,
a few antipasti, a pizza, and maybe
some pasta. They can also come
with a big table, sample every-
thing and stay all night and drink
our great Italian wines. This is a
place for either type of customer.”
The place was designed and
planned with the help of Italian
designers and chefs. You can see it
in the futurist font of the logo and
the layout of the restaurant. It’s
something different in Iceland.
Any doubts I harboured about the
place disappeared with the first
dish: almonds and olives (850
ISK). It’s difficult to find really
high-quality olives, not soggy or
mushy, in Iceland. Wherever Es-
sensia gets theirs, BUONISSIMO!
The salty, snappy flesh of their ol-
ives gets you in the mood.
Next I had beef tenderloin car-
paccio with parmesan and lemon
(1750 ISK). This is one of my favou-
rite antipasto dishes and I’ve tried
it in the various Icelandic varia-
tions, mainly horse or whale; Es-
sensia’s is delicious. The meat has
the right amount of marbling to
taste nutty against the sourness
of the lemon and the saltiness
of the parmesan. This led into a
platter of freshly sliced ham and
cheese with mustard and grilled
bread (2050 ISK). If this was
lunch time, this would have been
enough—especially with the two
glasses of wine.
This was not lunch and I was
here with a photographer and
an intern, so I figured we could
handle anything, if we worked to-
gether. The next dish was a Mar-
gherita pizza (1850 ISK). The crust
was perfect, the sauce wasn’t to
acidic or too sweet and the cheese
was gooey without being greasy.
It’s a great pizza.
We split a bowl of crab linguine,
which was rich and buttery (2750
ISK). I was too full for dessert, but
my guess would be that it’s deli-
cious. I really want to come back
to this place and eat slower and try
the bigger dishes, such as the lamb
shank with Moroccan spices and
dried fruit (7900 ISK for two peo-
ple) or the Bistecca Fiorentina 800
gram grilled Porterhouse (12,900
ISK for three to six people).
This is a really fun place to
start off your evening, especially
if you are attending the National
Theatre or a show at Harpa. The
wine, variety of food and the at-
mosphere make this place the per-
fect restaurant for a large group of
friends or coworkers to eat, drink
and partake in Iceland’s official
pastime: gossip.
Arrivederci!
New Taste
50The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 16 — 2016
PAN–FRIED FISH
FISH STEW
Onion, garlic, potatoes, celery, lime,
white wine, cream and butter
1.850 isk
PLAICE
Tomatoes, capers, parsley,
lemon and butter
2.100 isk
ARCTIC CHAR
Honey, almonds, cherry tomatoes,
lemon and butter
2.100 isk
Our pan–fried fish is always
served with butter–fried
Icelandic potatoes & fresh salad
desserts
DATE CAKE
Walnuts, coconut, cream cheese
coffee cream blueberries and whipped cream
1.400 isk
SKYR MOUSSE
WITH WHITE CHOCOLATE
Roasted almonds, blueberry sauce
and whipped cream
1.550 kr.
any
pans
for
lunch?
lækjargata 6b, 101 rvk · 546 0095 · messinn@messinn.com
Words YORK UNDERWOOD Photo ART BICNICK
A New Taste Of
Italy In Iceland!
Checking out Essensia at Hverfisgata 4-6