The three brothers from Bakki - A coffee house in Dalvík
May contain traces of advertisement.*
When we were in Iceland in July 2018, we had a few days for Akureyri and its surroundings. At one of the evenings we had an inviatation to this restaurant in Dalvík. I knew it from Instagram. They had spent a few days in Akureyri. The beautiful photos of their cakes had fascinated me.
But when we arrived in Dalvík and stood in front of the restaurant, some doubts arose. From the outside it looked a bit shabby. We didn't see any lights inside. But we had got a nice invitation by the hosts Heiða und Bjarni and the photos were really great. So we entered the restaurant.
Gísli Eiríkur Helgi - Kaffihús Bakkabræðra
And when we came in, our impression changed immediately. It looked so cozy, rustic, interesting. Everything was lovely decorated, made from ancient wood. We immediately fell in love with this homey atmosphere. And got a very warm welcome by Heiða.
Before eating, we looked around in the restaurant. There is a counter and some small tables for the guests in the ground floor...
... and upstairs there is a second bar counter and space for even more guests at long wooden tables.
I love all these furnishing details. The lambskins, the paintings on the walls, ..., especially the long woolen underpants!
The choice of warm dishes is manageable. They offer fishsoup. From 12 o'clock at noon to 10 o'clock in the evening. But it is not just fishsoup. When you order the soup, you'll get a salad a starter, bread and water, and finally coffee.
The salad was delicious, with walnut kernels and large coconut flakes. For seasoning it was serverd together with balsamic vinegar, oil, pepper and salt.
On a separate tray we got two sorts of home-made bread. Both were made with Kaldi beer, the beer from a local microbrewery in Árskógssandor (in about 10 km distance from Dalvík). The butter was sprinkled with herbs. So the bread was really delightful.
But the absolute highlight was the fish soup itself! It was not a plain traditional fish soup. Besides potato, tomato, onion, paprika and cream, their were fruit pieces in it. And it smelled of coconut and spicy herbs. In any case, this soup had a special touch and was absolutely delicious!
We got a large soup plate full with this soup. It was so full, that it almost slopped over, especially because the plate as well as the table both were a bit wonky. So it was difficult to bring everything in a good position for a photo without flooding the table. Speaking of the wonky plate, all the tableware was a lovely mixture of various old-stlye porcelain plates and cups. I had the impression, that there were no two plates of the same kind. Anyhow, it all fit together. And then there were the old book pages placed as placemats on the tables. I love all these lovely details in the restaurant's decoration!
After dinner we got a coffee. This was served also in lovely and old-fashioned manner: on a special coffee tray in a porcelain cup together with a milk jug and a sugar bowl. Wonderful! I felt like being on a coffee party of my grand aunt some decades ago.
In fact, the restaurant is mainly a coffee house. Hence they have a big variety of cake and pastries, wheras they only provide one warm meal. But better one really great meal then a big selection of just so-so.
I couldn't resist and tried a piece of cake for dessert. The waitress recommended a special cheesecake - with berries and peanuts and a layer of chocolate. A dream! (I definitely have to try myself such a combination, cheesecake with peanuts.)
After this meal we were really full and satisfied.
But another highlight was waiting for us. Bjarni, the owner of the restaurant, took us on a walkabout through the adjacent theater.
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| No, that's not Bjarni. This is a wooden statue of Ólafur Grímsson, the previous president of Iceland |
The building next to Kaffihús Bakkabræðra is the former cinema of Dalvík. It stood empty for several years. But now it's a living place of culture again. The municipality of Dalvík restored the building from the outside. Bjarni and Heiða took care of its inner life.
On the day of our visit, later in the evening, Góss gave a concert here. Unfortunately we had to get back to Akureyri early to our children.
Góss, the band of Sigríður Thorlacius, Sigurður Guðmundsson and Gudmundur Óskar, perform a wide range of music, from folk to pop, and they are quite popular in Iceland. A few days before our visit in Kaffihús Bakkabræðra they gave a concert in Vagninn in Flateyri, where we had been shortly before, too.
While we admired the old cinema auditorium, suddenly Bjarni stuck out his head through the hatch of the film projector. Full of enthusiasm, he told us about his heart project. He told us about the history of the cinema, about its revival, about the events they organize here, ... There is still a film roll in the projector remaining from the cinema's historical era. But noone knows how to handle the projector. ...
Nowadays various cultural events are performed here. Concerts, theater, but also screening of soccer matches - during the football world cup. In particular during the matches of the Icelandic team the atmosphere was fantastic, as Bjarni told.
Later we learnt what it is about with the restaurant's name "Bakkabræður" and with the three characters shown on some paintings in the restaurant.
The "Bakkabræður" are literally the brothers from Bakki. These three brothers named Gisli, Eiríkur and Helgi lived in the small village Bakki in Svarfaðardalur valley, not far away from Dalvík. Even though noone knows when this was, their story is one of the most famous Icelandic folk tales. And its not a single story, but there are several short stories about the adventures of the three brothers. Funny stories about these three village fools.
After a last short walk through Dalvík, we had to drive back to Akureyri.
If you come to Dalvík in August: On the first or second Saturday in August, Dalvík celebrates the "great fish day", "fiskudagurinn mikli". Bjarni told us glowingly about this festival. Different fish dishes are offered all over the village. An extremely large grill ist set up. There are exhibitions, boat tours, art, music and show events. This year the "great fish day" takes place in August from 9th to 12th.
Overview:
The coffee house opens daily from 10.00 to 23.00., soup is served from 12.00 to 22.00.
The soup with salad and bread costs during the day 2200 ISK (approx. 18 €, 20.50 $) in self service. A second helping is included. In the evening it's a bit more expensive, namely 2800 ISK (approx. 23 €, 26 $). But then you get table service, and coffee is included, too.
* Legal note:
Formally this article can be graded as advertisement, since we had been invited for the meal. Anyhow, we have chosen only restaurants, which we had heard good things about and which we estimated as interesting. Accordingly we're really delighted, and if we fall into words of praise, these are meant honestly.
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