Ice, Ice Baby: Stretching Your Dollar in Reykjavic

By reallygoodfood - January 17, 2010

The Editors at TeamViva are thrilled to introduce you to the lovely Ming van den Berg, international food blogger extraordinaire of Really Good Food. In this week’s post, Ming shares savories and memories from a recent trip to Reykajavic, Iceland.

The collapse of a country’s banking system need not be a complete disaster. For an out-of-this-world experience in a place where your tourist dollars will be much appreciated, take a trip to Reykjavic.

SEE: To orient yourself, take a Golden Circle Tour including Thingvellir National Park, site of the world’s oldest existing Parliament. Watch your step while approaching the mighty Gulfoss waterfall, and hold your nose and take cover when entering the world-famous Geysir area, a spectacular gauntlet of sulphur-scented geyser eruptions and mineral-rich mud puddles.

STAY: Even devotees of boutique hotels should give the masterful hospitality of the Hilton Reykjavic Nordica a chance. Compared to local hotspot Hotel 101’s “we’re just a little too cool for you” attitude, Hilton’s sumptuous breakfast buffet and extensive spa facilities, not to mention recession-friendly pricing at ~$110 per night wins hands down over Scandinavian surliness and a $500+ daily rate.

THRILL: If you’re brave enough to spend a morning doing something I can only describe as life defining, then (dry)suit up for a snorkel or scuba dive in the glacial waters of Silfra, a site at which the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates pull apart an inch or more each year. Drifting through the crystal-clear waters of a lake cradled by lava rock, take in an aquascape best characterized as lunar.

CHILL: Warm up with a unique spa day at the world-famous Blue Lagoon. Set in a vast lava crater where thermal waters well up from a super-heated subterranean geothermal field, the lagoon plays host to bathers and therapy-seekers alike. From silica mud facials to sports massage, there is no finer haven for a magical day away.

FILL: Seafood Cellar does not have a Michelin star, but it certainly deserves one. Unassumingly situated in the basement of the same building that houses Reykjavik’s Tourist Information Center, it is an intimate gem of a restaurant. Décor is ultra-modern as any trendy Nordic haute cuisine purveyor should be, and in this case, a sophisticated design aesthetic expresses itself even more exquisitely in the presentation of the food. Asian elements are deftly applied in such dishes as the Breast of Duck Hot Pot with Kaffir Lime, Tom Yum, and Apple Blossom, but it is the seafood that really steals the show. Freshly caught Icelandic Salted Cod “Earthquake” with Fennel, Almonds, and Tomato tastes not in the least oily, instead invoking the memory of sea spray on a crisp spring day. What exquisite torture it was to listen to the announcement of the courses when my eyes had already transfixed themselves to the new dishes and our fingers toyed impatiently with the silverware. If food could be called art, then the “Rock” of Fruits with Rhubarb, Strawberry, and Marzipan Skyr Mousse on a bed of dry ice that transformed my table into an otherworldly dessert paradise was precisely that. Seldom have I had such an all-round positive dining experience, and I can hardly wait to return to Iceland for a repeat visit. For a special occasion or simple foodie indulgence, Seafood Cellar has my highest recommendation.