So folks, I regret to inform you today's post won´t include any new cheese experiences, yes there was some of the Icelandic Gouda and the un-pronouncable blue cheese but it sure was an exciting Friday night / Saturday day.
Last night, after much deliberation, we settled on a restaurant located under a bridge in downtown Reykjavik called Fish Company, a new Nordic restaurant with international influences. Each offering on the appetizer and entree menus detailed the inspirational country the dish was based around. The cavernous dining room was packed full when we walked in close to 9pm -- a good sign!
The meal started with an amuse bouche of arctic char and salmon tartar with sour cream apple foam and radish and a homemade crumble. Supple, sensuous, savory, flavorful, fresh and all around fantastic. We could tell the meal promised to be delish from the get go. Next up we split one of their appetizers - Burnt Tuna with teriyaki and tuna sashimi, Langoustine Salad and watermelon snow, chili puree, seaweed and crispy lotus root. What was the country of inspiration for this dish? China. The tuna melted in your mouth and the delicate vegetal qualities of the seaweed and lotus root with that added kick of the chili puree was a perfect beginning. After close to an hour of waiting, we received our mains. I had their ode to cauliflower which was baked cauliflower and pinenut couscous, cauliflower cream and pickled pearl onion with dill mayo and cauliflower foam. Country of influence? Finland! Rustic, earthy, dynamic, warming, and unbelievably inventive, this vegetable centric dish was out of this world. This was the sort of food I was looking to have in Iceland -- food that took risks, was outside of the box and unusual.
So that brings me to today...we ventured out of the capital city on a tour of the country side everyone informed us we had to do -- the Golden Circle tour. We visited a small waterfall and then the large and imposing waterfall known as Gullfoss or the Golden Waterfall and then Geysir and lastly Thingvellir (þingvellir). At Geysir, we got to see a field of hot springs and erupting geysirs that date back for centuries, truly a magical experience. And at Thingvellir, a national park and shrine to Icelandic nationalism and independence, we got to see one of two places in the world where you can see the visible drift between the two continental plates -- the North American and the Eurasian plates which exists on the backdrop of Iceland's largest national lake, þingvallavatn. Where is the other opportunity to see a continental drift? Eastern Africa!
A truly awe inspiring day of natural beauty and glimpses into the raw and unique Icelandic landscape.
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