Reykjavík Grapevine - 30.06.2017, Side 55

Distance from
Reykjavík
794 km
How to get there
Fly from Reykjavík City Airport
4.8
4.9
grey plates are the earthy backdrop
for an eighteen-course tasting
menu that focuses on using sea-
sonal local ingredients in an inge-
nious and artistic reinvention of
traditional Faroese flavours.
The opener is a mahogany clam
so rich in oil and subtle in flavour
that it causes an involuntary shiver
of pleasure. It’s followed in rapid
succession by a profoundly smoked
langoustine and a queen clam
with smoked, frothy cod roe and
crunchy peas. Next is a triathlon of
fermented meat dishes: skerpikjøt,
this time sliced prosciutto-thin
to balance the flavour against the
sweet rye bread, followed by a pun-
gent ræst soup, then a challenging
lamb tallow with cheese crackers.
After a rhubarb palate cleanser,
we’re treated to a series of dishes
that are like edible sculptures of the
surrounding habitat: halibut stud-
ded with watercress, like a delicate
wild plant; strips of oily skate inter-
spersed with slices of starchy po-
tato; a swirl of seared cabbage and
sweet angelica; a meaty slab of salt-
ed cod, like a cracked white slate; a
fishy fulmar served in a puddle of
blood-red beetroot. One of the five
desserts is a bowl of flowers and
leaves introduced as “some things
we found outside.” It’s a mouthful
of fresh, natural flavours, and for
the second time on the trip food
brings tears to my eyes, albeit for
different reasons from the sker-
pikjøt.
Koks is the meal of a lifetime,
and an unforgettable conclusion.
Their revelatory menu provides ev-
ery bit as much insight into these
islands as sailing the fjords, driv-
ing the roads, and hiking to ends of
the remote and fascinating Faroes.

SHARE & PHOTO GALLERY:
gpv.is/travel
No visitors centre, just beauty – and skerpikjøt – in Gásadalur
The lighthouse at Kalsoy The opening course at Koks
A local in Gyógv