Food not bombs sounds like a neat idea. But Icelandic food is at best mediocre. PIC goto10
T he fact the most popular “restaurant” in Iceland among tourists is a hot dog stand selling sub-standard local hot dogs and the most popular “restaurant” among locals is IKEA restaurants should tell you all you need to know about the food culture of Iceland.
Even mediocre hot dogs are a feast compared to the foods the travel brochures often advertise as the foods of locals. This consists of dried fish, rotten shark, red-hot brennivin alcohol and various other unpalatable dishes. But these same brochures fail to reveal that these foods were the stable in viking times five centuries ago and most locals do not touch it. Ever.
To be sure, on the whole you will not find really great restaurants in Iceland. Sure, some places do enjoy popularity for a while but this is more on account of who´s where than actually great tasty food. Yes, this is a pretty superficial society and you are a celebrity as soon as your pic is featured in the local paper.
That being said, there are a couple of things you should not leave without trying. And let no one give you rubbish about the fantastic lamb or the heavenly fish. The lamb is good indeed but most of the stuff you get in restaurants is frozen shit. Fish of all kinds should be of the freshest kind ever on this fishing island but that too is 99% frozen in most places and occasionally imported too. Besides, do not take advice about fish from a local here. Roughly only a decade since anyone had the idea of doing anything else with fish than boiling it for hours and we are absolute beginners in fish dishes.
Same thing with burgers and pizzas. Most serve decent fast-food but by no measure outstanding stuff no matter where you look. All pork and chicken served in Iceland is factory-produced and thus the meat typical of that kind.
However, we do have some juicy stuff too 🙂
Team Total Iceland MUST-TRY DISHES:
- Whale steak
- You may roll your eyes as you like but the fact remains that a decent whale steak is no less delicious than prime beef steak from Argentina. However, there is a trick to this. Whale meat is absolutely horrible if cooked wrong for even a minute. We suggest Saegreifinn or Three Coats restaurants where they treat whale meat with precision.
- Skyr
- You probably heard about this delicacy which incidentally we didn´t know was a delicacy until recently. This shit kept a majority of the local population alive for centuries. In effect this is very thick yogurt packed with vitamins. Skyr has the great benefit of filling your stomach very quickly and totally without an ounce of fat. Unless, of course, you pour over fresh cream like most locals do. You can buy this in restaurants or in the nearest supermarket but sadly few of those offer the real old thing.
- Svið
- This is definitely not for everyone as this is a torched sheep´s head. The look might not be appetizing but most people trying this dish actually like it. One might say these are four different types of food. The tongue, chin, eyeballs and the burned skin all have different taste and texture but amazingly the majority likes most of it. In any case, you win bragging rights even if you only nibble.
Bon appetit!
