Our last dinner of the trip was at another well known place in the city center called Fish Market, not to be confused with the Fish Company where we ate at the night before. Similar to the Fish Company, the menu here is also upscale Icelandic food but they also have an entire section dedicated to sushi as well. The decor here is a bit dark since it's located on the bottom floor of an old building but the inside is sleek with accents of bamboo. The starters on the menu varied from the traditional (minke whale and smoked puffin) to the amazing fine dining options (lobster soup and giant king crab claws). One of the most popular Icelandic dishes is their fish soup and since this was my last night here, I decided that I had to have the lobster soup (2400 ISK = $19 USD) since it was the closest thing to fish soup. For my main dish, I opted to try something different from fish for the first time and got the grilled fillet of lamb (5700 ISK = $44 USD). Iceland is also famous for their lamb. Their lamb is the ultimate in free-range, hormone free and organic as they let their lambs wander the freely in the country side before they are killed. Allison got the tuna steak (5900 ISK = $46 USD) which the waiter highly recommended.
The meal started with an amuse bouche (I love how the restaurants here start with something nice from the kitchen). It was salmon served sashimi style on a crispy wonton drizzled with a soy dressing. It was fresh and amazing and made me excited for more food.
The lobster soup was served with all the ingredients in the bowl (lobster, roasted coconut flakes, mussels, and mandarin oranges) and then the waiter pours the broth slowly on top of everything. The broth had a hint of coconut milk which gave it an Asian flare to it. It was an amazing soup. It wasn't too oily or heavy but it was hearty enough to make it almost worth the $19. Strangely enough the mandarin was an interesting touch to the dish and didn't weird me out at all like I thought it would. Sorry that this photo makes it look kind of gross but trust me, it was delicious.
Although I have loved all the fish I had here, I was excited for a little red meat. The lamb dish was served with sauteed jerusalem artichokes, beetroot and fried mushrooms. The lamb itself was done medium rare and perfectly red and juicy on the inside. I haven't had lamb this tender in a really long time and there was a lot of it too (thank god since I was paying so much for it!). The mushrooms and artichokes were tasty as well and had the right flavor profile to compliment the soft lamb.
The restaurant was a mix of tourists (there was a gaggle of girls on what looked like a bachelorette party) and locals. While it was a pricey endeavor, it was one of those meals that is totally worth it every once in a while. I do have to say that I liked the Fish Company a tiny bit more than the Fish Market but they were both fabulous and totally changed my mind at what Nordic food could be like. I had assumed that the food in Iceland would be all about smoked fish and fermented meat. But the fine dining places that I went to (and even the casual place like the Laundromat Cafe) were right up there with some of the places in NYC (and even the prices are similar) and really impressed me. Don't let the stereotype of Scandinavian/Nordic food fool you. If you can find the right places, you can have a really wonderful meal.
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