It actually started off with a friend asking me “What is nice there in Iceland?” after my trip to Iceland and I had no good reply except for the interesting and exotic food I had tried there that excited me so much.
That was when it came to my realisation that I remember places, even countries I travel to, by the food I had there.
Out of the one-week Carnival holidays we had in March this year, we spent 3 days in Iceland. In retrospect, it may seem to be quite a wasted trip because we bought the air tickets to Iceland at a crazily high price, with the intention to catch the Northern Lights, but ended up seeing nothing due to bad weather. I don’t know about my friend, but for me, I was glad to have gone to Iceland – no regrets.
On the first night when we touched down at Reykjavik, Iceland, we went to this Icelandic Fish and Chips restaurant my friend found online. I remember initially I was rather sceptical about eating fish and chips in Iceland because fish and chips don’t sound very Icelandic, do they? But being a fried food fan, I can never resist fish and chips! And it turned out to be one of the best and most gratifying fish and chips I have ever eaten! Crispy on the outside, soft and tender on the inside, the portion is really satisfying and it comes with Skyronnes with different cool flavours to choose from! I’ve read about Skyr being a local dairy product before I came to Iceland and guessing that Skyronnes are something related to Skyr, that really excited me and I was so eager to try it. (After that, I found out that Skyronnes are actually Icelandic dipping sauces that are made out of Skyr instead of mayonnaise, so though I didn’t try Skyr per se, I was still glad for the Skyronnes!)
Fried Plaice on a bed of Mango Salad @ Icelandic Fish & Chips, Reykjavik
Our fish and chips came with a Skyronnes dip for each, so we had two flavours! One was Coriander and Lime, and the other one was Truffle and Tarragon. And that was what I ordered – It had bits of roasted coconut underneath it which tasted so Asian and reminded me of home!
On the last night, we went to Saegreifinn (The Sea Baron) for the legendary lobster soup that was highly raved about on the web. I was so looking forward to it because online reviews talked about how you can get a rather local experience at the restaurant sitting on the barrels and eating fresh, good food.
And sure enough, it was a fairly simple and down-to-earth place which looked different from how the typical restaurants usually look like. I was pleased with the no-frills and though it was a little squeezy, it felt cosy.
The selection of seafood skewers to choose from!
That’s the raw whale! D:
Lobster soup was not bad but not exactly Wow in my opinion – guess I made too much hype out of it so I might have been expecting too much. As for the whale meat, it was really an experience for me. My friend told me the whale meat tasted like steak, perhaps because it was prepared to be medium-rare, so for someone who doesn’t take beef since young, I could not really get used to the taste of that. I was so glad I shared that with my friend, and the fish skewers and lobster soup saved me quite a bit as well.
Codfish Skewer & Whale Meat @ Sægreifinn, Reykjavik
Lobster Soup @ Sægreifinn, Reykjavik
The most memorable food I tried in Iceland had to be Hákarl (fermented shark cubes) and I felt so accomplished I managed to eat it haha – you just need to try it for yourself! 😀
When my world revolves around food; 