Tryggvaskáli 2.0

Dinner in Selfoss

After we ate at Tryggvaskáli in Selfoss on a recommendation in the fall of 2017 and were really thrilled and impressed by the food at the time, I was saddened to discover last year in October 2020 that Tryggvaskáli was also affected by the overall situation - temporarily due to Covid 19 closed, it was said at the time.

The restaurant in Selfoss on the bridge over the Ölfusá has been open again since the end of May 2021, but with new owners and a slightly different concept.

So, before the children came here last week, we had another cozy meal together - in the "new" Tryggvaskáli.

Tryggvaskali 2.0

To be honest, we were a bit disappointed. The furnishings were essentially the same, but some things had changed; much of the previous decoration of old vases, jugs, plates, pots, books, figures, etc. had been removed and there were now quite a few artificial flowers around. (I can definitely understand that plastic flowers are practical, but still...)

There were no more appetizers (the fresh bread with the soft, salty garlic butter used to be so delicious!), and there was no longer a menu, but you had to choose what you wanted to eat separately from the menu (starters , toasts, main courses and desserts).

Fully occupied - advance order required

It was very good that we had reserved a table online beforehand - the restaurant was well attended (within the existing Corona regulations) and guests without a reservation had to be sent on again and again. However, we noticed that there were only other tourists sitting around us. The selection of dishes also seemed to me to be aimed more at tourists - for example, there was whale tataki, i.e. marinated, briefly fried whale, and horse meat or fries and (on request) chicken pieces for the less daring tourists.

Tuna tartare starter

As a starter we shared a tuna tartare with wafer-thin, fried dough. Really very tasty, the fresh, raw tuna, together with some coriander, had a slightly Asian touch and we definitely liked it very much. However, the cost of this starter was just under €19.

Horse fillet with potato salad

For the main course I had a small portion of horse fillet with crispy potato salad and mushroom sauce. The fillet tasted really good and had a wonderful consistency, and the side dishes were also good. (However, I had the feeling that the potato salad might have had a bit of coriander in it, which wasn't really necessary for me. It wasn't on the menu, but somehow the taste still came through.) For half the portion " hrossalund "we paid a good €24.

Salmon with pearl barley and pesto

For the main courses, my husband chose the salmon with barley, pesto, broccoli and chili nuts (for the equivalent of a good €26) - even though he doesn't actually like eating broccoli. But he liked it here - even if coriander had gotten into the food again, at least it tasted like it. Interesting in itself, but somehow it slowly became a little more than absolutely necessary for us...

Desserts

However, we were really impressed with the desserts!

I had Dísukaka , a dessert with banana ice cream, rye bread, sour apple pieces and some kind of chocolate or caramel cream with a few salt crystals in it. It was warm and cold, sweet and salty, melt-in-your-mouth and crunchy all at the same time. Really really tasty!

For my husband, this was his absolute highlight of the evening - Lakkrískaka . Liquorice cake with raspberry sorbet, a kind of licorice-chocolate sauce and fresh raspberries. Really a great taste experience and definitely recommended for liquorice fans!

We really enthusiastically scraped out all of our dessert bowls and were full and satisfied afterwards. Both desserts cost just under €13 each.

The cost for the evening for two is around €100

All in all we paid a good €100 for food and drinks. It cost significantly less than the 3-course menu that we had eaten in the "old" Tryggvaskáli in 2017 (which cost a good €140 at the time), but that last bit that had thrilled us so much the first time was also missing.

I also think the service lacked the last bit to completely convince us. So we always had to wait a relatively long time (e.g. around an hour from ordering to serving the main course), we only got the card to order the desserts after the second request, and the desserts were given to us with the brief statement "Icecream ", which initially caused some irritation for us, because we didn't order the bowl of ice cream ("Ísskál"), but rather the cake (okay, with ice cream on the side). But that could also be clarified.

All in all, I'm already mourning the "old" Tryggvaskáli, even if the desserts comforted me a bit.

[Translated from here.]