Reykjavík Grapevine - 04.05.2018, Blaðsíða 44

Moroccan Food
Between The Snowy
Mountains
Siglunes Guesthouse restaurant is a warm
sanctuary in a cold place
Words & photos: Valur Grettisson
Between the snowy mountains in
Siglufjörður, you can find a hot and
passionate chef from the warm
country of Morocco, Jaouad Hbib.
He fills this former herring fishing
town with an exotic aroma from
the warm lands of North Africa,
brightening the day with his cook-
ing, and his enthusiasm when it
comes to cheese.
You can’t really separate the
restaurant from the guesthouse
itself. My family and I stayed there
over Easter, and went skiing in the
town. The first thing we noticed
when we came to the guesthouse
was the thick scent of cinnamon.
We asked immediately if we could
get a table at the restaurant, but
it was booked out for four days
straight. They squeezed us at the
last minute for Easter Sunday.
Lucky us.
No prisoners
We arrived at the restaurant
straight from the slopes of the lo-
cal ski resort, tired and starving. It
wouldn’t last long: the restaurant’s
decor was cosy, with the strange
light of the Icelandic spring play-
ing over the space’s warm wooden
textures. The waiters were a young
staff who also work at the hotel.
They weren’t the most experi-
enced, but they made up for it with
a welcoming and relaxed attitude.
The first course was a tradi-
tional Moroccan soup, Harira, with
coriander, celery, tomatoes, chick-
en, and sweet dates on the side. It
was an explosion of flavours, and
we instantly realised that these
courses wouldn’t take any prison-
ers. It was a delicious and filling
appetizer for the tired and hungry
skiers, and the dates were a deli-
cious addition.
Taste buds on overtime
Shortly after we got the main
course. I had the Lamb Tagine with
figs and nuts, which was served
in a clay pot, still sizzling when it
arrived at the table. The first taste
was strong and distinctive. Cin-
namon was the main flavour, as
you might expect from Moroccan
food, but the sweet figs added bal-
ance. My taste buds wore working
overtime. I had the house wine, a
Californian Merlot, but it didn’t re-
ally go well with the food—a better
wine pairing would have elevated
the food even further.
The weird cucumber
soup
For the desert, I opted for the cu-
cumber soup with thyme, rosewa-
ter and vanilla ice cream. The first
taste was a little confusing; it was
good and sweet in a weird way. I
had trouble finishing it. I think
it’s fair to say that it doesn’t really
matter if it’s good or bad when it’s
this intriguing and original. It was
an experience. What more would
you like from a restaurant?
The chef and his
cheeses
I talked briefly with the chef him-
self, Mister Hbib, who said that
the darkness can be overwhelming
in Iceland, so he forgets himself
in his cooking. His real passion,
however, lies in cheese—he keeps
a room full of different cheeses,
stored at the perfect temperature.
I’m no cheese expert, but the ones
he let me smell had a pungent aro-
ma, like everything else that Hbib
cooked for us that evening. He’s
obviously someone who is passion-
ate about his profession.
All in all, the restaurant at Si-
glunes Guesthouse is one of the
most interesting restaurants you’ll
find in the North of Iceland, with
an intriguing combination of cold
arctic air and warm and flavour-
some North African cuisine.
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45The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 07 — 2018
Jaouad Hbib: chef, and cheese enthusiast