Reykjavík Grapevine - mar. 2023, Blaðsíða 26

26 The Reykjavík
Grapevine 2/23
Best before:
March 2, 2023
FOOD
A Culinary
Comeback (Kinda)
At six, Mat Bar remains hard to slot
Words: Shruthi Basappa Photos: Art Bicnick
I distinctly remember when Mat
Bar first opened. The Hverfisgata
corner had been a buzz of activity
and, even with the windows still
shrouded in paper, the place held
promise of exciting newness.
Now six years old, much has
changed at the restaurant. Guðjón
Hauksson, the former charismatic
owner who longed to recreate a
little slice of Italian joie de vivre in
downtown Reykjavik is no longer
part of the business. I must admit,
there are times when I am at the
restaurant and I expect Guðjón to
greet me with a glass of his recent
favourite wine, share a tidbit
about what we are eating and
laugh raucously with his diners.
Alas, enthusiasm alone isn’t
enough to run a restaurant and
whispers of poor management
eventually placed the restaurant
in the hands of the chefs who have
since held steadfast.
Eventful anniversary
Once pegged as Nordic-Italian,
Mat Bar has gone through a
tumultuous transition of varying
identities. Under head chef and
owner Hrafnkell Sigurðsson, the
restaurant reached its heyday with
every visit guaranteeing a hit —
chewy, candylike beets; delicate
bok choy; fresh capelin roe, the
rosy hued seed pearl-like fish eggs
studded with slivers of spicy chilli;
and a chocolate mousse with
clementines and hazelnuts that I
haven’t fully managed to get out of
my mind for a few years now.
But over the past couple years
the restaurant appeared to have
given up on its initial premise of
fresh, produce-forward plates,
turning instead into a dumpling
wannabe (an excellent langoustine
dumpling notwithstanding), then
Kabab Soltani, then a frankly
forgettable pop-up that overstayed
— all seemingly at odds with what
diners had come to expect.
I am happy to report that, over
the last few months, Mat Bar
seems to have bounced back and
just in time for their sixth anni-
versary.
Small plates, big
character
One of the things that Mat Bar
has always done better than most
is channel bold flavours from
their too-small-for-a-restaurant-
kitchen where the wood fire grill
is centrestage. The return to a
classic-but-not-quite approach
is seen throughout a menu that
continues to change with the
seasons. Keeping with kitchen
constraints, they are coaxing
flavours from pickled, fermented
and preserved condiments, loyal
to no one cuisine, but to flavour
alone while keeping the vegan,
vegetarian and meat lover happy.
A few months ago, I had a
wonderful horse mussel with dill,
chives, a creamy sauce and Lao
Gan Ma chilli crisp. More recently,
I enjoyed a chicken yakitori —
smoky, tender chicken thighs,
branded on the grill, piqued by
a lemon kosho (a fermented
Japanese citrus chilli condiment),
with relief in the wedge of lacto-
fermented white cabbage. Cock-
tails were a let down; the basil
gimlet was a poor reminder of
the punchy basil gobernador they
once served. But the wine list is
short yet solid, with something for
old school tastes and the natural
wine enthusiast.
The kitchen has definitely been
looking back on their own clas-
sics and bringing them back with
varying degrees of success. The
mozzarella with pickled tomatoes
is as delightful as it once was.
The same can’t be said for the
accompanying spongy flatbread,
although it works better with the
cauliflower dip.
What is Mat Bar?
When I first wrote about Mat Bar,
I struggled to classify the restau-
rant, settling then for “Nordic
Italian.” Now I find myself staring
at the same dilemma — one that
the kitchen is grappling with, too,
as evidenced on the menu. Is it
Nordic Italian/Mexican/Thai/Japa-
nese? Or is it a tapestry of every-
thing the restaurant has been?
While I fervently hope for
stability, I’m reminded of what
was probably one of the best
dishes I’d had all year in late 2022
— a wonderfully simple walnut
cake with carrot sherbet and sour
cream. Put together, the dish
evoked carrot cake, but far more
complex than its deconstructed
elements. The carrot sherbet
recalled gajrela, a halwa of slow
cooked carrots in milk, smooth,
and tantalisingly mysterious if
you haven’t had the Indian dessert
before. The walnut cake was bare
like nonna’s, but eaten together
with everything else it was a testa-
ment to a creative idea, executed
superbly. If Mat Bar is looking for
an answer to the question of who
they are now, I’d look no further
than that dish and work from
there.

SÆTA SVÍNIÐ / Hafnarstræti 1-3 / Tel. 555 2900 / saetasvinid.is
990 1.690
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