Reykjavík Grapevine - Jul 2022, Page 29

Backyard treasures and
foraged finesse
For the average diner, a brief perusal
of the menu might seem intimidat-
ing with ingredients like dandelion,
lovage, chervil and angelica running
with gay abandon across the page.
But then you sip a cold glass of
bartender David Hood’s excellent
Dandelion Sour (2600 ISK) with
brennivin and skyr whey, and you
realise that the pesky weed is not
just edible, but also delicious. It is
also a reminder that the once weak
cocktail game has finally come into
its own.
Gísli once said that foraging is a
no-brainer in Iceland and lamented
the incredulity of importing ingre-
dients from Peru when our own
backyards are literally ripe for the
picking. The restaurant exudes
this belief without resorting to
gimmicky garnishes of chervil that
otherwise haunts restaurants that
proclaim backyard foraging. Here,
they arrive in all their jewel-like
splendour like the stars they are.
Of particular delight this time
are the hand-dived sea urchins
(1950 ISK) from the Westfjords—
the creamy coral uni sits in its once
spiny home on a pool of zippy horse-
radish cream, crowned with briny
seaweed capers and the soft bite of
oyster leaves and flowers. A beau-
tiful layering of distinct saltiness
of the ocean cohabitants weaves in
and out of each bite, reminding you
of the adage, “what grows together
goes together.”
Another show-stopper is the
‘Þari’ or sugar kelp, the broad, belt-
like seaweed that lines Icelandic
shores and has to be slow cooked
for 18-24 hours to be edible. It is
then dried, fried and served like a
chip. A decadent snack to shame
every other snack you’ll encoun-
ter hereon. The broth from boiling
the kelp is served as a consomme
alongside; its dashi-esque flavour
an unwitting reminder of Japan,
but the heady slick of brown butter
gently draws you back to Iceland.
Beyond the cod head
One of the most popular dishes at
the restaurant that has garnered
Gísli well deserved attention is
the whole cod head. There might,
however, be a new usurper to that
throne.
The whole lemon sole (5550 ISK)
has been a steadfast fixture on the
menu, but the iteration served up
this year is likely its most pris-
tine. Gísli has always turned to
fish, approaching everything from
the ground up—starting with the
butchering. Like with the ‘cod wings’
(with an even spicier, earthier hot
sauce this year, 1950 ISK), he turns
the heat up on the lemon sole by
filleting it on both sides, snipping it
at either end—thus removing all the
bones, while leaving the fish ‘whole’.
It’s then cooked en papillote with
a fish stock butter sauce that is at
once bright, voluptuous and rich.
Batons of fresh apples and wedges
of radish are an inspired touch of
earthy sweetness to the expertly
cooked fish. Yet again, Gísli shows
that he is no hostage to technique
as he revels in marrying his honed
skills with home cooking meth-
ods, a rare quality that explains the
approachable quality to the restau-
rant despite its audacity.
What makes for a unique dining
experience at Slippurinn is a combi-
nation of several different factors
that really shouldn’t work, espe-
cially if one were to listen to list-
less norms in fine dining lately: that
value for money meals come at the
expense of originality, that luxury
translates to tired tropes of beef
carpaccio, caviar quenelles and a
New Nordic hangover, and that one
can only have one or the other.
Slippurinn celebrates Iceland
and shines a light on its ingredi-
ents both abundant and obscure
with dishes that are at once old, new
and original appealing to a cross-
section of diners. Gísli eschews
of-the-moment popularity in favour
of the unbridled joy of discovery, be
it his experiments with ageing fish
like with the cured halibut, or that
butter and fish can be more than
the sum of its parts, as he shows
us with his birch-speared scallops
served in a satisfying puddle of
fermented garlic butter and pickled
dulse. Dining at Slippurinn can feel
like a journey of enlightenment: you
come out changed and wiser for it.

“Slippurinn: Recipes and Stories
f rom Iceland” is available for
purchase from our online store
shop.grapevine.is
Food 29The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 07— 2022
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rfisgata 12
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The infamous cod's head dish