Reykjavík Grapevine - 16.06.2017, Qupperneq 53

Find the best
food in Iceland!
Download our
free dining
app, CRAVING on
the Apple and
Android stores
Matartíminn
Magical Mystery
Meal
Dill and Solfin Danielsen take us on a
tour of the Arctic island palate

Words: Ragnar Egillson Photo: Art Bicnick
Matartíminn is a series of pop-up
events orchestrated by Dill, Iceland’s
first Michelin star restaurant, and
Kex Hostel. Each event takes place
in a new and non-traditional loca-
tion—at an upcoming event, food
will be cooked over an open fire on a
river island. The most recent night
was relocated back to Dill, for un-
known reasons—not that I’m com-
plaining about a seat at a restaurant
with a two-month waiting list.
Matartíminn is aimed square-
ly at foodies who
don’t sweat splash-
ing £200-300 on
a meal with wine
p a i r i n g s — a l -
though you’d be
ha rd-pressed to
find a seven-course
meal with booze
for less in Reyk-
javík these days.
The fifth install-
ment was staged
by Ragnar Eiríks-
son of Dill in collaboration with
Faroese wine wunderkind Solfinn
Danielsen, of Copenhagen winery
Rødder & Vin. Solfinn was there
to guide guests through a range
of natural wines to complement
the ingredients, dragged sparkling
from the darkness of the North
Atlantic, or dug muddied from
the waves of tussock hummocks.
Cloudy and lactic
The journey began with a delicate
variation on a traditional herb-
crusted Arctic char. The fish was
lightly cured with a
dusting of herbs, as
opposed to the usual
coarse layer of dill,
further accentuated
by a light cucumber
sauce and a glass of
sharp SomnamBulles
from micro-winery
Gar ‘o’ vin. This tran-
sitioned smooth ly
to the smoked had-
dock with skyr po-
tato mash, comple-
mented marvellously by a cloudy
and lactic Escargot chardonnay.
The lightly salted cod chins
(“gellur”) came apart in strands
thick as piano strings, served with
a “spaghetti” of raw rutabaga and
“sea-truffles”—a seaweed resem-
bling carrageen moss. The Anda-
lusian bubbly white with discrete
fruit and distinct minerality, veer-
ing into a dry apple cider, was the
perfect bridge between the cod and
earthy root vegetable. The wolf-
fish had been dried and shredded
until the texture resembled rou-
song pork floss, then draped like
cotton clouds over malted barley.
This was paired with a lemon-
colored Gérard Schueller Cuvee
Particuliere, an uncharacteris-
tically sour Alsatian wine with
notes of elderflower and honeydew.
The last of the savoury dishes
was a lamb with fermented fen-
nel. The lamb wore its free range
lifestyle on its woolen sleeve like
that annoying friend on Instagram
with his nonstop #fitspo-tagged
mountain views. It sported an ex-
pertly charred crust enveloping the
pink interior, and came colour-co-
ordinated with the cherry-tinged
Thierry Hesnault Pinot d’Aunis.
Grassy rhubarb
The next wine was Solfinn’s fa-
vorite—a slightly bitter and salty
gamay from Francois Dhumes.
This was paired with the most
divisive course of the evening: a
beet sorbet with a crisp of me-
ringue dusted with anise-flavored
powder and brown cheese pud-
ding. Interestingly, the response
was neatly divided along gender
lines, with the women being less
welcoming of the strange sorbet.
Finally, we were greeted with
a grassy rhubarb with whey ice
cream and dry sponge cake. This
was paired with a small bar-
rel Xarab wine from Barranco
Oscuro, sweetened naturally by
running it through three sea-
sonal cycles—acidic for a des-
sert wine, with a rusty color and
visible sediment, and an after-
taste of prunes and ancho chiles.
The emerging themes for the
night were carnivore proteins be-
ing given a less central role, and
a keen appreciation of acids in
preference to the usual fat and
salt. All in all, Matartíminn of-
fered a thoroughly contempo-
rary approach to Nordic cuisine,
and is a must-attend for all se-
rious Reyk jav í k foodies w ith
the time and funds to spare.
R E S T A U R A N T
w w w . b a n t h a i . i s
L a u g a v e g u r 1 3 0
T E L : 6 9 2 - 0 5 6 4
----------------------------
BanThai
B E S T T H A I F O O D 2 0 1 6
2 0 0 9, 2 0 1 0, 2 0 1 1, 2 0 1 2, 2 0 1 3, 2 0 1 4 A N D 2 0 1 5
----------------------------
FISH panS
icelandic "plokkfiskur"
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
salmon
(lacTose–free)
Parsnip, broccoli, cashews,
coconut oil, chili and lemon
2,100 isk
our fisH pans are always
served wiTH buTTer–fried
icelandic poTaToes & fresH salad
deSSertS
carroT cake
Cognac cream cheese frosting
and roasted coconut flakes
1,550 isk
créme caramel
Classic egg custard with baked
white chocolate and strawberries
1,550 isk
any pans
for
luncH?
lækjargaTa 6b, 101 rvk · 546 0095 · messinn@messinn.com
“The most divi-
sive course was
a beet sorbet
dusted with
anise-flavored
powder and
brown cheese
pudding”
Food
Very Instagrammable food