Messinn á Selfossi

The restaurant "Messinn" in Selfoss

May contain traces of advertisement.*

In Selfoss, a small town in southern Iceland about 50 km from Reykjavík, the "new city center" was opened in summer 2021. Historic buildings from all over Iceland are being rebuilt in Selfoss, creating a lively city centre with shops, restaurants and pubs, a food hall and apartments on the upper floors. Also a cinema is planned. 13 houses of the first construction phase have now been successfully completed. In my opinion, the result is really nice and I like to be in the "new city center" (after all, our cottage is nearby and we are regularly in Selfoss).

In the summer of 2022, the fish restaurant "Messinn" has been opened in one of these "new old houses".

End of October, we had an invitation to eat at the restaurant and try it - and we're really delighted with both the food and the atmosphere.

We were there on a Friday for lunch. In the restaurant it was very cozy. Apart from us, there were mainly Icelanders in the restaurant. Some people came in work clothes, alone or in small groups, obviously during their lunch break. Some were older couples or even whole families who enjoyed their lunch here.

The name "Messinn" means "the mess", i.e. the dining room on a ship. The name of the restaurant is also implemented very consistently in the interior design, lovingly down to the last detail. We were thrilled by the benches in the bunks on the wall, the ropes as an optical room divider or the dangling glass fishing floats.

Such glass floats used to be used by fishermen: Glass balls were tightly enclosed in artfully knotted bags made of ropes.  They served to keep the ends of the fishing nets above water. Nowadays, mostly balls made of plastic are used, which are far not as beautiful as the old glass floats, but much more robust.

The restaurant "Messinn" is a fish restaurant specializing in daily fresh fish. On the menu there are various appetizers to choose from. From bread basket with butter to char tartare, saltfish salad or fresh fish soup with bread and butter. In terms of price, the starters range from € 6.60 to € 26 for lobster and king prawns).

For the main courses you have the choice between fish burgers, fried fish (cod) with french fries and chili mayonnaise or pasta with seafood (for the equivalent of around 22 to 25 €).

The special highlight of the menu are the fish pans:

In large, cast-iron pans, the food is served directly from the kitchen to the table.

All pans contain changing, seasonal vegetables and Icelandic potatoes as a base - and then there are different kinds of fish, seafood - and also a vegan version with tofu.

The pans are really big and they invite you to enjoy and share the good food; So you can also order two different pans very well, e.g. for three and then eat together delightfully.

My husband had lúða, the halibut pan - fresh fried fish in white wine and cream sauce with fresh wild mushrooms and he was completely thrilled. In fact he raved about the various wild mushrooms (which is not so typical for him).

I had gellur - cod tongues fried in garlic butter and served with plenty of fried vegetables, lots of butter, chili and lemon as well as cold cocktail tomatoes and freshly plucked roquette. The dish gets its very special charm from the different consistencies, partly soft, partly rather firm, partly crunchy, and the different temperatures between the warm and the cold components. 

 

The "gellur" is actually not the tongue of the fish, but the muscle that is located below the chin of the animal. The muscle meat is enclosed by its own skin. You have to fry it longer than fish fillet and it becomes firmer, but melts on the tongue when eating and leaves a slightly salty aftertaste. Traditionally, cod tongues are fried lightly floured in Iceland and Norway - and then taste really great. 

For dessert you could choose between a súkkulaði brownie or a crème brulée, both served with fresh berries and ice cream (price equivalent to just under 15 €). We were already very full after our fish pans, but it looked so delicious that we could not (and did not want to) resist.

We then opted for the crème brulée, with a scoop of ice cream, a very tasty, light sorbet, blueberries, strawberries and a kind of granola, cuddly, crunchy oatmeal. The portion was served to us without any problems with two spoons - and tasted really good.

Our conclusion 

We definitely enjoyed our food at the "Messinn" in Selfoss and can honestly and warmly recommend the restaurant. The portions were really plentiful and we became very full in a very, very pleasant way.

I'm looking forward to eating there again - and just enjoying this wonderful meal without a camera!

* 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.