Reykjavík Grapevine - 06.10.2017, Síða 48

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Pizza Will Never
Betray You
Eldofninn might just be the best pizza in Iceland

Words: Björn Teitsson Photo: Art Bicnick
It’s a cold night. The mind races.
You think about pizza, the only
friend who hasn’t betrayed you. If
that is the case, your best friend
might be Eldofninn, a true local fa-
vorite. Although this pizzeria has
been around for almost a decade,
it’s still a relatively guarded secret.
This has everything to do with its
pseudo-suburban location in a
strip-mall called Grímsbær (origi-
nally an Icelandic word-play on the
English “Grimsby,” a popular des-
tination for Icelandic commercial
fishing vessels) in the calm residen-
tial area of Fossvogur. It’s not far
from the city centre—maybe a 10
minute drive/bus ride away.
Keep it in the family
Eldofninn is a family-run business,
based on the assumption that the
parents of a certain household al-
ways made the best pizzas. Proba-
bly not the first to do so, this family
rallied around this idea of creating a
pizza place to keep them all togeth-
er. The driving force of the family
has been the basis of this success-
ful restaurant, along with some se-
riously smart decisions that have
kept up their high standards since
day one.
This includes an enormous Ital-
ian imported brick oven, prepared
doughs and sauce made in-house,
and—if possible—locally sourced
toppings. All of this combined
makes for one of the best, if not the
best, pizzeria in this land of ice and
(brick oven) fire.
My companion and I decided to
visit during lunch, as we have heard
(and witnessed, to be fair), that
business can be really crazy during
the evenings, as people from the
neighborhood flock to Eldofninn
to get their take-away pizzas. There
is also the added bonus of the lunch
special: a pizza of your choice plus
a soda for a mere 2,000 ISK. Pizzas
from the menu range from 1,720 to
2,890 ISK, always roughly the same
size. It should also be noted that
there is a 10% discount for every
take-away pizza—a smart move
for maximum pizza output per
evening.
Cheesy perfection
My companion had a very clas-
sic pepperoni pizza, while I went
for a combination of egg and blue
cheese. The pepperoni pizza was
delicious, with the pepperoni on
top of the cheese for some on-point
sausage fat melting over the whole
surface area. Not too much cheese,
just right. The crust is of the Ital-
ian kind—thin yet flavourful, with
crispy sides. The homemade sauce
is really packed with flavour with
deep notes of garlic and black pep-
per. Just perfect.
My egg pizza was also very nice. I
would prefer the egg to still have the
yolk intact to get the delightful ooze
after it reaches the table, but this
was still nice. In any case, it wasn’t
like scrambled eggs, and it did har-
monise well with the blue cheese
and chili oil, added from a bottle on
the table.
All in all, it was a delightful
lunch, even though it was at a strip-
mall. But that’s the unifying power
of the most tender and crispy pizza.
It will never betray you. It remains
the true love, for a lifetime.
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 7
a l s o b e s t 2 0 0 9, 2 0 1 0, 2 0 1 1, 2 0 1 2, 2 0 1 3, 2 0 1 4, 2 0 1 5 A N D 2 0 1 6
----------------------------
N E W A W A R D
Ban Thai is not a “fast food” restaurant
every meal take some time to cook, we cook after receiving the order
prepare your time before you come to enjoy your meal
----------------------------
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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
Food
This man clearly works out to burn off all the pizza