Lamb Diary

If there were such a thing as a food-synonym, Iceland's would be "Lamb". My personal objective was to eat lamb every day during the visit, an objective I only failed to achieve on one day, and even then only (as detailed below) due to a rather unusual set of circumstances. 

With no further ado, I present: The Lamb Diary.

Lamb Fillet

Hótel Búðir - Búðir

First night in Iceland, having driven to the Snæfellsnes Peninsula, we were lagged out - almost zombiefied - and we drove 40 minutes to a restaurant at which we had made reservations weeks ago. The Hótel Búðir is built near a historically significant chapel - and there's not a whole lot more to Búðir. Their dining room is top notch. 

Served with new potatoes and local carrots. Garnished with chunks of veal tongue, which melted in your mouth and had a mouthfeel like bacon.

Lamb Soup

Prímus Kaffi - Hellnar

In the middle of our drive around Snaeffels in dreary winter drizzle, we stopped in at Hellnar - just west of Búðir - to get a bite at the cafe. We both got the Lamb Soup, a savory broth with large chunks of lamb and vegetables. It was accompanied by bread and rich butter, and we washed it down with tea and mocha. The soup hit the spot on a cold, rainy day. 

Lamb Shank

Sjávarpakkhúsið - Stykkishólmur

For our second night on the peninsula, we had made reservations at Sjávarpakkhúsið, an hour away from our hotel in Rif, based on a good experience some friends had had there recently. The restaurant is smallish and cozy, right on the wharf, and has the feeling of a clean tavern or public house. We both nailed the lamb shanks, and were not disappointed.

The chef here is also a fan of creative desserts. For ours, we shared Chocolate Shock - various presentations of chocolate. A ganache shell filled with whipped chocolate, chocolate cake with a true buttercream frosting, white chocolate mousse. 

Lamb Sandwich

Halldorskaffi - Vik

It was a seven hour journey on the road from our digs on the peninsula to our hotel on the southeast coast, and we stopped in at a crowded bar/restaurant in Vik that had the comfy feel of a noisy, rustic ski lodge at a second tier resort. We each grabbed a beer. Julia got a seafood stew, and I got the lamb sandwich. Tasty, lean and succulent slabs of lamb between slices of whole grain, served with thick wedges of fried potato. Stout fare. 

Mutton Sausage

Following our hike and cave exploration on Falljökull glacier, we stopped in at the visitor's center for some hot beverages. In the fridge case, we spied some goodies made from locally sourced mutton, and scored some mutton sausage slices. We had a picnic lunch in our hotel room before heading out again in the afternoon, combining the sausage with some pepper-Havarti.

There may be some who feel that mutton sausage is not gastronomically culinariesque enough to warrant inclusion in a Lamb Diary. They are wrong.

Roasted Lamb Leg

Fosshotel Glacier Lagoon - Hnappavellir

Our first night on our southwest excursion we stayed in spartan accommodations in Hof, but we relocated to the Fosshotel Glacier Lagoon, fifteen minutes away, for the next two nights. We dined in the hotel our first night there, and I got slow roasted lamb leg. Served with fennel, new potatoes, with an almond garnish. The white cups are onion hemisphere shells, filled with a light, frothy fresh hollandaise.

Lamb Chops

Kaffi Hornið - Höfn

After an adventurous day at the glacier lagoon at Jökulsárlón, we continued on down the coast to Höfn in search of an interesting place to have dinner. We found it at the Kaffi Hornið. The chops were pan fried to perfection, each with a rind of crisped, transformed lamb fat that added the perfect musky stank that is the reason I so dearly love eating the sheeps. Bonus: reindeer burger, with blue cheese. We split both entrees between the two of us, and smiled all the way through it.

Lamb Fillet Redux (sort of)

Þrír Frakkar - Reykjavik

We made reservations at Þrír Frakkar far in advance of our visit. Upscale atmosphere, and an impeccably credentialed kitchen - I was looking forward to what I was sure would be the best lamb of the trip. But when I got the menu, I had to pause. One offering was horse tenderloin, and I seriously had a difficult time deciding whether to order lamb or horse. In the end, I went with the lamb fillet. Julia got cod cheeks. For openers, Julia got fish soup, which she described as "perfect". I got mushroom soup, which was absolutely wonderful - creamy and rich and subtle.

When my main dish arrived, I saw three large slabs of meat - which struck me as unusual, but who was I to complain about so much lamb! There seemed to be a faintly off kilter smell, mildly of fish, which I determined was in fact coming from my plate and not Julia's. First bites held the crispness of the grill, though there wasn't much there in the way of flavour. The deeper I got into the piece, I noticed a very dark color, and a softer texture - not quite gelatinous. I wondered if these had come from a pan that had cooked fish? I wondered if it had been underdone, and if so what underdone lamb would do to me. I kept eating bites. Perhaps the second piece was fully cooked? I finally gave a piece to Julia to try, and she agreed that it was pretty odd. We really weren't certain what it was I was eating. It definitely looked like grilled meat, but although we couldn't identify it specifically we were pretty sure at that point that it wasn't lamb.

We asked our server what it was that was on my plate. It turns out that I had been served whale. 

Lamb Tapas

Tapas - Reykjavik

For our last serious meal in Iceland, we selected a restaurant specializing in Spanish and Icelandic tapas, named, unsurprisingly, Tapas. Of the selections we made, two involved lamb. Pictured above: rack of lamb with samfaina and mint sauce.

Why we can taste Things

The second entry, above, lamb tenderloin in licorice-sauce, blew us away.  Raw marinated lamb chunklets with creamy accompaniment.