Reykjavík Grapevine - 19.05.2017, Qupperneq 49

Werkmanlike Nordic
Kitchen
Matwerk doesn't reinvent the wheel… but it werks

Words: Ragnar Egillson Photo: Art Bicnick
I dodge the diagonal raindrops
of Rey-jah-vik’s spring through
the glass front of the former hair
salon turned upscale Nordic din-
ing spot. The restaurant carries a
muted industrial vibe, spread over
three tiers. The open kitchen is on
the bottom, and the bar rests up
top. I take a seat within eyeshot of
the bar. Matwerk. The name of the
restaurant recalls German leather
dungeons and cackling scientists.
Behind me, Chinese tourists
are committing to their social
media game with top-of-the-line
video cameras. A couple at the
next table stares longingly at the
passing tourists, their fingers
itching for Tinder. The lighting
at Matwerk is perfect for date
nights, and on the Nordic lounge
mixtape, Lykke Li sings about
following rivers.
The owners of Matwerk are
chef Guðjón Kristjánsson and res-
taurateur Þórður Bachmann, who
brought us Grillhúsið and Restau-
rant Reykjavík. The head chef is
Stefán Hlynur Karlsson, coming
in from Fish Company. The team
describes their ap-
proach as “New Nor-
dic Fusion.” In that
spirit, we chose the
two set menus. The Nordic Menu
is a four course menu consist-
ing of fish soup, beef cheek, lamb
top round, and fried dough balls
(8,500 ISK). The Matwerk Menu of-
fers pork belly, beef tartar, Arctic
char, and skyr brulée (7,900 ISK).
A modern twist on the early
2 0 t h c e n t u r y
classic cocktai l
was dubbed “Fu-
ture of Aviation”
t h a n k s t o t he
addition of but-
terfly pea flower
tea, which had
t h e a bi l i t y t o
morph from sky
blue to lilac with
the addition of
citric acid. It’s a
nice idea, but the
chance for child-
like wonder was
lost when we were served an al-
ready-lilac drink.
Meat forward
There were other misfires—the
beef cheek may have been rescued
from the cheap cuts tray by restau-
rants like Babbo in the late 90s, but
I don’t know about taking the cheek
slumming again with the addition
of what looked like
nacho cheese sauce
and cronions. The
Arctic char with dill
skyr (I think) and kale was a miss.
The char skin was crisp, but the
underripe mango was a bad call.
The “ástarpungur” (direct transla-
tion: “love ballsack”) is a traditional
Icelandic pastry, reminiscent of a
dense fairground zeppoles with rai-
sins and cardamom extract. This
ball had been tarted up with fro-yo
and white chocolate, but the flavour
and presentation were as limp as
as… well, a sack of balls.
There were three standouts on
the menu. The pork belly was lay-
ered with mustard seeds and cir-
cled by toasted barley and sautéed
cabbage. The top round of lamb—a
common cut in Iceland—struck a
great balance be-
tween depth of fla-
vor and tenderness,
and came paired
with sunchokes, the
knobby, nutty love-
child of New Nordic
chefs. The thick skyr
brulée with a tart
sheep sorrel sorbet
and blueberry jam
was delicious enough
to demand a return
visit.
I must say I
expected more ad-
venturousness from Matwerk.
What we have is a meat-forward
nuts-and-bolts Nordic joint which
falters when it dares deviate from
the set course. It’s heavy on butter
and cream, sauces and purées, and
the vegetarian dishes fail to live
up to the buttery blocks of protein
the carnivores are presented with.
While it doesn’t feel particularly
modern, Matwerk does stand head
and shoulders above the flock of
substandard tourist-fleecing res-
taurants that line Laugavegur. But
perhaps that is damning with faint
praise.
Bottom line: Matwerk is more
kraft than art.
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
2 . 3 0 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
2 . 4 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 . 8 0 0 . k r
E s t . 2 0 1 2R e y k j a v i k
“Matwerk
stands head
& shoulders
above the
substandard
tourist-fleec-
ing restau-
rants that line
Laugavegur.”
49The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 08 — 2017
gpv.is/food
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We like the way they werk it.