Scandinavian Smorrebrod & Brasserie

My husband and I took a short walk to find lunch today, having decided that we would just wander until we found a place for lunch that looked promising. In short oder we decided that Scandinavian Smorrebrod & Brasserie would fit the bill nicely.

I ordered an open-faced salmon sandwich, which was served on buttered toast and came with chilled scrambled egg, and dill sauce.

Restaurant Reykjavik

In several of our guidebooks, I'd read that Restaurant Reykjavik had a seafood buffet every night starting at 6 p.m.; since we'd eaten early today, we decided to go try out this buffet. It was pretty impressive! There were both hot and cold seafood dishes, and small samplers of desserts as well, so one could try any amount of anything that appealed.

I tried whale for the first time tonight; it was smoked. It was a dark meat, almost gamey. I'm not sure I liked it, but it was interesting to try. The salmon was pretty delicious, though, as was the seafood casserole.

Clockwise, from left: bread; seafood pate; salmon in crust;
smoked trout and potatoes; smoked salmon; marinated salmon;
seafood casserole.

Clockwise from left: smoked whale; paella; ceviche.

chocolate mousse; white chocolate mousse;
wedding bars (I think - it wasn't labelled); and
brownies.

chocolate cake and blueberry skyr

Durum

My husband and I don't normally make plans to have brunch, but this morning was a special case; we needed to be at church sooner rather than later, and had we not eaten when we could (mid-morning), we would not have had the chance to eat anything until dinnertime. However, in our travels yesterday we had noticed that Durum, about two blocks down the street from us, served some breakfast items.

My husband had the breakfast special
(omelette, cheese, sausages, bacon, baked beans, toast).

I had the breakfast wrap
(cheese, bacon, omelette, fried vegetables, baked beans).

Kitchen-Eldhus

We're staying a week in Reykjavik before flying home, and serendipitously our hotel is conveniently located close to a busy thoroughfare with lots of restaurants, so it was easy to find our dinner at Kitchen-Eldhus.

appetizer: Choyola (smoked lamb marinated with Nepali-
style herbs and spices)

I had the Gosht Kata Masala (bottom);
my husband had a chicken dish.

spicy vegetable naan

butter naan

Kaffi Sólon

My husband and I had tried to find Kaffi Sólon for dinner last night, but we couldn't locate it until after the fact, so we went there for lunch this afternoon.

I had a toasted bagel with smoked salmon that came with,
a bit oddly, Camembert.

We also shared a queasdilla that featured very
paprika'd chicken (tasted a bit curried).

My husband had the seafood club,
which featured salmon.

Ósinn

My husband and I continued our drive along the Ring Road (Route 1) in Iceland; tonight we're staying in Höfn. It's a small town but had several options for dinner; we decided on Ósinn, in Hótel Höfn.

We both started with the lobster glacier soup, made with
icebergs from Vatnajökull glacier. It was good.

My husband had tbe lobster ravioli.

I had the lobster "Höfn Meets Asia": oven grilled
lobster tails with spiced garlic and butter, along with
lobster spring rolls.

Salt Cafe & Bistro

My husband and I discovered the wonderful Salt Cafe & Bistro practically next door to our hotel, so we headed there for dinner; it turned out to be one of the better meals we've had in Iceland so far.

We started with a salmon appetizer, which came with
both smoked and marinated salmon, crusty bread, and
a garlicky yogurt sauce.

I ordered the Arabic Health flatbread, which included
marinated lamb, roasted almonds, sesame seeds, and
yogurt sauce.

My husband ordered the calzone, which came with
ham, blue cheese, and mushrooms.

I'm not sure what sort of dessert this was, but it was
chocolatey and good.

This was the inside of the dessert: It was a bit similar to
gingerbread, and had jam in it, as well as something
resembling white frosting.

Skriðuklaustur

My husband and I headed to Skriðuklaustur in the late morning today, and after we'd seen the very interesting archaeological exhibits, we stopped off in the attached cafe for lunch, where a very good buffet was being served.

The buffet included (clockwise from left): quiche,
lamb stew, reindeer pie, bread, and a fish casserole.

There were also chocolate cake and little Icelandic donuts.

Kaffi Borgir

My husband and I spent the day driving from Akureyri, Iceland, to our next stop on the Ring Road: Egilsstaðir, in the east of Iceland. On our way, we stopped in the Mývatn area (its lake is quite an attraction) of Dimmuborgir to walk through Skútustaðir, a national park. After our walk, we had lunch at Kaffi Borgir, where we had an excellent meal of dried trout on geyser bread. It was one of the best things I think I've ever tried.

Brekka

My husband and I took a day trip out to Hrísey, an island about 35 km north of Akureyri, where we've been hanging out for the past few days. Since we arrived around noon, we had lunch at Brekka.

mushroom soup

lobster salad - very good!

Strikið

My husband had discovered Strikið, a restaurant in Akureyri that sits on the fifth floor of a building (and therefore given to nice views of the locale), so we headed there for dinner after Mass tonight.

appetizer: Langoustine on garlic bread 

appetizer: salmon tartare

my entree: Icelandic hamburger (beef, goose, and
reindeer), and Icelandic cheddar. Came with blueberry jam
on the bottom.

husband's entree: the Atlantic char

dessert: Skyr cake

Krían

My husband and I spent the night on a small island 25 miles north of Iceland, where we had planned to be tourists and hang out at the Arctic Circle at midnight. Until then, though, we had to eat, so we went to Krían, Icelandic for "tern," a type of bird, which was the only restaurant on the island.

I had what I'm assuming is the cod, which is one of the
principal catches; on the menu it was only listed
as Grimsey fish.

My husband had the puffin, which was served medium rare.

And for dessert: cake with cream!

íslenska Hamborgarafabrikkan

After the last two rather disappointing meals, my husband and I stopped by íslenska Hamborgarafabrikkan - the Icelandic Hamburger Factory. I have to say, these were the best burgers I've had in Europe so far (having had subpar burgers in Ireland, Estonia, and Finland).

My husband had the No. 2 Lamburger, which he said was very good, but I had the No. 8 Morthens Burger, which came with bacon, garlic grilled mushrooms, cheese, lettuce, tomato, red onion, Bearnaise, and French fries. I was quite pleased (and thankful that my burger didn't come with any weird Thousand Islandesque sauce on it).

Bautinn

In our first night in Akureyri, my husband and I explored an area not too far away from our hotel, with the idea that we'd see what restaurants were nearby, and choose one that looked good. We only encountered three restaurants during our short walk (it had started to rain): a burger joint that we agreed we'd try another time, a small Indian takeout place, and Bautinn, which was the first place we'd come across and which another American said was good, and had a good salad bar.

I ordered the Mexican chicken soup, which tasted like
very warm salsa with chicken in it. It came with some
good tortilla chips, and creme fraiche, which I thought
an odd thing to have with alleged Mexican soup.

I also ordered a baguette that was served with Bearnaise
sauce and mushrooms. This wasn't too bad, although a bit
greasy.

My husband ordered one of the specials, which consisted of
guillemot, a seabird, and came with a potato, gravy, and some
manner of jelly.

Icelandic Fish & Chips

After our foray into the Blue Lagoon earlier today, my husband and I drove north to Reykjavik, where we're staying overnight. We scoured our guidebooks and travel guides for dinner suggestions; although we're coming back to Reykjavik in about a week and a half (and will be staying for several days at the end of our trip),  we didn't want to go out at a fancy restaurant (we don't have the clothing for it); we didn't want a burger joint or American (we can get that at home anytime), nor did we want Italian, Indian, or other "ethnic" food. We're in Iceland, darnit - we want Icelandic food!

As such, we eventually decided on Icelandic Fish & Chips for dinner. It wasn't great, although it had initially promised to be: One of my pieces of fish wasn't quite cooked all the way through, and my potatoes were dripping in oil. Our order had also been misplaced, and we wound up waiting nearly 45 minutes for our meal. (And the price of the bread basket we ordered had to be refunded because they'd run out.)

wolf fish with garlic potatoes

The Lighthouse on Gardskagi

My husband and I arrived in Iceland very early this morning, and after a nap at our hotel and some time perusing our guide books to refresh our memories, by the time dinner rolled around we were read to try a bit of exploring. We stayed somewhat close to our hotel in Keflavik in Reykjanes peninsula, but had quite by accident discovered an open cafe located near an old lighthouse on Gardskagi.

local lamb meat soup

salted cod tower made with creamed leak, tomato,
and aligot potatoes