Matur og drykkur - 1st course

Cold appetizers

Dried fish with whey butter and pickled seaweed

Trout smoked over sheep dung with horseradish and toasted flatbread

Sea hare roe with cucumber and mustard on fried egg yolk

The first appetizer we got was a plate of fish chips, a dab of butter and small, slightly salty "balls" - in Icelandic: Harðfiskflögur, burnt mysusmjör og sýrð söl .

I've only ever known harðfiskur as a pretty tough, dusty affair, but these fish chips were absolutely brilliant, soft and textured at the same time and really, really tasty! Plus the soft whey butter and as a “counterpoint” the pickled seaweed, a type of red algae. It was really just a small plate, a saucer, and the chips were correspondingly small - but ultimately delicious!

Afterwards we were served a kind of “caraway bread” with soft butter (also very tasty!).

The second “appetizer” was the trout smoked over sheep dung, served with horseradish cream and fresh dill on toasted Flatbrauð, i.e. warm Icelandic flatbread. The taste of the sheep dung smoke is absolutely characteristic, takes a little getting used to at first, but is simply incredibly delicious in the second.

The third part of the cold starters was a plate of fried egg yolk, somewhat reminiscent of tortilla chips, on top of which was a cool, moist mass - lumpfish roe and pickled cucumber slices with fresh cress. For my taste, the cucumber dominated, but the different textures of the crisp, baked egg yolk and the soft, sour topping were interesting.

I was completely busy and in heaven!

Overview of the 4-course menu at Matur og Drykkur



[Translated from here.]