Reykjavík Grapevine - feb. 2020, Blaðsíða 35

Quite Mexican
Navi!atin! the wonder vessel that is the
Icelandic taco with the boys at MB Taqueria
Words: Ragnar Egilsson Photo: Art Bicnick
Taco lovers of Iceland have been on
a rollercoaster of emotions over the
past 10 years as they’ve gone from
having barely any tacos to being
blessed with a spattering of devoted
taco spots, albeit blipping in and out
of existence.
Annoying questions
One such place is MAT BAR, the
beloved neighbourhood bistro. In
late 2019, after wowing us with
some wonderful vegan tacos, two
of the MAT BAR crew capered up
the block to open up the offshoot
MB Taquería.
“We love tacos, so the taco thing
happened pretty organically,” co-
owner Egill Pietro Gíslason explains.
“Based on the success of the tacos at
MAT BAR we were looking to spread
out and this place was small and per-
fectly suited for tacos.”
Tequila, tequila
His partner, cocktail specialist Siggi
Sigur!sson, comes straight out of
the Danish high-end cocktail en-
vironment. Despite the place not
seating more than 25 people in a
pinch, Siggi has committed to what
is probably the most extensive fixed
tequila cocktail menu in the coun-
try and makes a vibrant tepache
in-house.
“I just think that if you want to do
something, you should do it full-on,”
Siggi says. “If you’re doing a Mexican
restaurant you must have a decent
selection of tequila. Most of our stuff
is specially imported exclusively for
us, but we are definitely hoping some
of these brands take off.”
The ‘pylsa’ approach
The current menu consists of three
types of tacos (fish, veggies, meat)
and at the time of our visit, they
featured Al pastor pork, ceviche-
like prawns and sautéed zucchini.
You get a short stack of tortillas,
with each filling on a separate
plate, along with a generous accent
of seeds, nuts and herbs. This way,
customers can assemble tacos to
their liking and punch them up with
a selection of hot sauces that range
from reasonable to murderous.
“We wanted different levels of
spiciness for people, with at least
one real scorcher,” says Egill. “Some
people take the ‘pylsa’ approach and
put a bit of each sauce but I wouldn’t
recommend that for most people.
But everyone loves The Hot Ones
so it’s also good entertainment.”
My dinner companion opted for the
hottest sauce and the entertain-
ment value was palpable as his face
alternated between the reds and yel-
lows of the murals behind us.
Red & yellow
The tacos themselves are all made
on the spot, based on a special reci-
pe that would seem to owe as much
to Gothenburg flatbread as it does
to Pueblan maize.
“We experimented with a num-
ber of recipes, using combinations
of oats, barley masa, and polenta
and we definitely try to use local
ingredients whenever we can,” says
Egill. Sourcing those ingredients
is no small feat in a place with Ice-
land’s geographic limitations.
“What’s been nice to see is the
influx of non-Icelandic farmers try-
ing out new varieties,” adds Siggi.
“There is a lot of energy available in
Iceland and it’s great to see people
build on that. We even have people
growing good chillies but it’s still
not at the scale where we can rely
on it completely.”
Glances at the tradition
MB Taquería feels in step with the
current gastronomic movements of
acids, nutty flavours, vegetables and
mindful engagement with the food
of other cultures. They cast admir-
ing glances at the tradition, and are
grounded in research, rather than
the exoticizing one sees too often.
“We’re not trying to be fully Mex-
ican, as we’ve never been to Mexico
and aren’t making traditional Mexi-
can food, says Egill. "Also, it’s nice
to be able to give it a local twist and
make something that’s quite Mexi-
can but not quite Mexican.”
35The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 02— 2020
Taco style
Food
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