Matarkjallarinn

The Food Cellar

May contain traces of advertisement.*

"Matarkjallarinn", the "Food Cellar", is a quality grill and cocktailbar with pleasant atmosphere in the heat of Reykjavík, just around the corner from Ingólfstorg plaza in the callar of a 160 years old building.

Here you get "food in your body and music in your soul", that's the restaurant's selfconcetion. The kitchen provides culinary art based on icelandic ingredients. Furthermore "Matarkjallarinn" owns a mahogany grand piano made in 1880 in Vienna by the Bösendorfer Company, and you can listen to live music every evening.

The evening we spent in "Matarkjallarinn" took place under the headng "Upplifðu Ísland - Discover Iceland".


Appetizer - Nýbakaðar pretzels með rjómaost

We started the evening with a little basket with two warm half pretzels served with cream cheese. (Not part of the menu, but an appetizer for all dinner guests.) A taste of garlic and herbs. For us, as Germans, this was a bit surprising. We know pretzels with cream cheese as a traditional Bavarian dish and hadn't expected to get it here in Iceland. But it was delicious anyhow. And, in fact, pretzels become more and more popular in Iceland, too.

1st course - Hægeldaður Þorskur

As first course we got slow-cooked cod with crusty strips of smoked lamb (Icelandic "hangikjöt"), almonds and langoustine hollondaise. This course was absolutely great. The combination of beautifully soft fish, the creamy sauce and the crunchy slices of lamb served with fresh herbs - this combination of different textures was my personal highlight.

2nd course - Grafin Gæs

The second course were smoked goose with pecan nuts, goat cheese, singapore sling sorbet and cherries. (I had to google what "singapore sling" is and asked the waiter, whether it is with alcohol. It is not.)

The goose was very delicious. The goat cheese was great and had an intense taste. Crunchy nuts and icy cold sorbet. Here we had not only the contrast of different textures, but also of hot and cold. It was sweet and fruity. I could not have eaten much more of it. But it was tasty and interesting.

3rd course - Steikt Lambafille

The main course to become fully sated consisted of fried fillet from the shoulder of lamb, grilled celery, onions and potato salad. Both pieces of lamb were extremely tasty and wonderfully tender. Absolutely perfect!

Only the potato salad was a bit too heavy and rich, for my taste.

But I liked very much the taste of the grilled celery, even though I'm normally not a great fan of celery.

4th course - Hjónabandssæka

Finally, for dessert, we got the traditional Icelandic "happy marriage cake" consisting of oat flake crumbles, marmalade and little pieces of marzipan. It was served freshly baked and warm in cast-iron pans and topped with ball of vanilla ice cream.

A mixture of warm and cold, crispy and creamy. And it was a really large portion. So we ended completely filled.

These are the moments, in which I love to be a food blogger!

Overview:

The restaurant opens for lunch on Mondays to Fridays from 11:30 to 14:30, for dinner on every day from 17:00 to 23:00.

Dinner menu:

The 4-courses menu "Discover Iceland" costs 9700 ISK per person (June 2019, about 68 €, 78 $), with wine 17500 ISK (about 123 €, 140 $). The three-courses menu "Haf og Hagi" (= "surf and turf") costs 8900 ISK (about 63 €, 71 $). The trhee-courses seafood menu costs without drinks 7900 ISK (about 56 €, 63 $), sme as the vegan four-courses menu.

The six-courses "Food Cellar's Secret Menue" ("Leyndarmál Matarkjallarans"), a chef's choice surprise menu, is the premium meal for 10900 ISK (about 77 €, 87 $) per person. It's only served for the whole table.

Of course, you can order not only menus, but also single dishes á la carte. Starters and small dishes are available for 2290 to 3390 ISK (16-24 €, 18-27 $). Main dishes reach from 4190 ISK (30 €, 34 $) for glazed butternut squash with polenta to 8490 ISK (60 €, 68 $) for a large portion of Icelandic langoustine with garlic, butter and parsley.

Desserts are available for about 2200 ISK (about 15 €, 18 $).

All dishes served on the tables around us looked really great and delicious!



* 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.

[Translated from here.]

Límonaði

Homemade lemonade

Yes, of course, lemonade is not classic Icelandic cuisine! But in Iceland there are also warm days in summer, so from 60 °F (15 °C) onwards it is called “midsummer” for the Icelanders, and that also means a delicious refreshing drink.

Ingredients for 2 people

500 ml mineral water
1 organic lemon
3 Tbsp maple syrup
4 stalks of mint
1 Tbsp fresh blueberries
6 - 8 ice cubes


Preparation

Squeeze the lemon.

Mix the lemon juice with the maple syrup.

Pour the mixture into a jug and add some of the mint and some of the blueberries.

Pour in the mineral water and let it steep a little (for the desired flavor).

Arrange the ice cubes in the glasses with the remaining blueberries and some mint,...

...pour on the lemonade and enjoy.

[Translated from here.]

Útilegu marengsbomba

Meringue bomb for the camping kitchen

Okay, this is not the camping kitchen for hard-core hikers on a multi-day tour, this is more for the family who spend the night at the campsite with a car and possibly a cooler bag and still enjoy a really delicious, sweet dessert want.

However, it also tastes good at home!


Ingredients

100 g of finished meringue

250 ml whipping cream
100 g caramel chocolate
550 ml vanilla skyr
4 Tbsp dried berries
1 banana
1 handful of freshly picked blueberries


Preparation

Crumble the meringue base (or use ready-made dessert meringue) and distribute it in a suitable bowl.

Melt the caramel chocolate in a camping stove and mix with 3 tablespoons of the whipping cream.

Beat the remaining cream as stiff as possible...

...and mix with the vanilla skyr.

Cut the banana into small pieces...

... and, together with the dried berries, also mix with the cream and Skyr mixture.

Then spread the cream and skyr mixture over the meringue pieces...

...pour the chocolate-caramel sauce over it and spread the blueberries on top and enjoy straight away!

Bon appetit!

[Translated from here.]

Kjúklingarbringur með sinnepi

Chicken breast with mustard

When I came across this recipe, I immediately thought of the honey mustard that I still had in my pantry and that was put to great use here. So I used a little less honey than called for in the recipe.


Ingredients

4 chicken breasts
100 ml Dijon mustard
3 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp Skyr
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 pinch of salt and pepper
2 tsp dried thyme


Preparation

First preheat the oven to 425 °F (220 °C) upper/lower heat.

Mix the mustard with the honey, skyr and apple cider vinegar and season with salt and pepper.

Place the chicken breasts in an ovenproof dish...

...spread with the mustard mixture

Bake in the preheated oven until the chicken is well done, about 40 minutes.

Sprinkle with the dried thyme and serve with fresh salad and potatoes.

[Translated from here.]

Pylsur í teppi

Sausages in the carpet

The Icelanders love their “pylsur”, their sausages, and don’t just eat them in hot dogs. Here's a very mundane "children's dish" on the topic of sausages - it's not quick, but it's very easy and looks really cute. It was definitely well received by my children!

Ingredients

1 can of sausages
1/2 pizza dough
2 Tbsp ketchup
1 tsp mustard
2 Tbsp grated cheese


Preparation

Spread the pizza dough with a little mustard and ketchup.

Sprinkle with the grated cheese.

Then cut into approx. 3 x 5 cm pieces.

Halve the sausages and wrap them with the pizza dough.

Line a springform pan with baking paper.

Put the wrapped sausages in (not too pressed) and cover the dish with aluminum foil.

Cover and bake in a preheated oven at 350 °F (180 °C) for about 30 minutes.

Then remove the aluminum foil and let it bake for another 10 minutes until the dish has become crispy and brown. (If necessary, adjust the baking times if the dough is not yet fully baked - it depends on the thickness and amount of pizza dough used!)

I admit, it's not great cooking, but it's a nice, child-friendly sausage-eating meal!

[Translated from here.]

ÍS - Áfram Ísland!

Letter Cake for National Day

Yes, I know, the "Number Cake" was the cake trend in 2018 and is now completely over again - but this year for the Icelandic national holiday on June 17th I still baked a letter cake with "ÍS".

Ingredients

4 eggs
75 g sugar
1 pinch of ground vanilla
3 Tbsp lukewarm water
50 g flour
2 - 3 Tbsp potato flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 pinch of baking soda
double amount of buttercream

blueberries, raspberries and sliced ​​almonds for decoration


Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C) upper/lower heat.

Print out the template for the letters "Í" and "S" and place it under a piece of thin baking paper.

For the biscuit dough, separate the eggs.

Beat the egg whites until stiff and place in the refrigerator.

Mix the egg yolks with the lukewarm water, sugar and ground vanilla until foamy.

Add flour, potato flour, baking powder and baking soda and stir.

Finally, fold in the egg whites.

Then apply the dough to the baking paper using a suitable syringe, first filling the outside line and then the inside. (Repeat three times for three layers of flooring.)

Then bake the dough at 350 °F (180 °C) upper and lower heat for about 10 to 12 minutes.

Then let it cool down very well and carefully remove it from the baking paper.

Prepare the buttercream according to the package instructions.

Then fill the cream into a syringe with a star nozzle and squirt one letter completely with dots.

Place the second layer on top and sprinkle with polka dots again, then do the same with the third floor.

Chill the letters so that the buttercream becomes a little firmer and then cover them with the decorations.

Then serve the cake well chilled.

[Translated from here.]