We decided to just hang out in Reykjavik today because we hadn’t really checked the town or the breweries out yet.
Our first stop was the Bryggjan Brugghus Bistro & Brewery. We met Arturo Santoni a Brewmaster from Argentina who gave us a tour of the most beautiful brewery we’ve ever seen. We then enjoyed a flight of the their beers which we really enjoyed. Sorry guys we couldn’t bring any back because the liquor store we stopped out didn’t carry any. We will check at duty free on our way out though. Arturo even gave us a sample of his red ale with cherries and coriander. That was our favorite. When we told him that he gave me a cap.
To Fred I think these people started with a little more than 5000 pounds since they have only been open for two years.
Then we looked at some of the boats and the ducks with one duckling in the harbor.
We then stopped at the Sun Voyager to take a couple of photos.
Then we were off to meet Alyson Hartwig the brewer at RVK Brewing Company. Alyson is an American from Colorado. They are not open to the public yet but if you contact them you can go for a tour. We really enjoyed her beers. I think she will really make a name for this place in the future, so be watching for her.
We did find some interesting buildings today.
We then went to eat at Le Bistro. We ate here our first night but couldn’t remember the name or where it was. At that time I had some wonderful mussels and David had a very nice lamb shank. They had an Icelandic sampler that we wanted to try. We had the goat’s cheese, carmalized onions and dried apricots baked in a filo pastry served with beetroot and a French vinaigrette. This was very nice. Then we had the Icelandic sampler which was black pudding made with lamb, pickled herring, smoked salmon, dried cod, smoked lamb, dark rye bread, rotten shark and a shot of Brennivin.
Kæstur hákarl or Rotten Shark is a national dish of Iceland consisting of a Greenland shark or other sleeper shark which has been cured with a particular fermentation process and hung to dry for four to five months. Kæstur hákarl has a strong ammonia-rich smell and fishy taste. Kæstur hákarl is readily available in Icelandic stores and is eaten year-round, but is also served as part of a þorramatur, a selection of traditional Icelandic food served at þorrablót in midwinter.
I was also told that the reason the shark has to fermented is because it is full of toxins. The ammonia smell is because it looses its urine through its skin. The closer the skin the worse the smell. We didn’t think it was as bad as everyone said but the waitress told us this is because it was not from close to the skin.
We highly recommend this restaurant if you ever get to Iceland.
Our last day was a nice relaxing day. Now time to start getting packed for our trip back to Alaska.