Happy birthday to me!
After a few less then brilliant choices of where to eat on my birthday, this year I opted for Tapas Barinn on Vesturgata.
Three of us chose "óvissuferð" which consisted of:
1. Fizzy white wine
2. Four small dishes: (scallops and dates wrapped in bacon, with sweet chilli sauce); deep fried chicken strips; serrano ham with Manchego cheese; prawns with paprika
3. Trout (bleikja) with cooked paprika
4. Chicken with pesto
5. Lamb with plum sauce
6. Chocolate cake with berry compote and cream
All delicious (except the lamb with plum sauce), especially the trout I thought. Two of us chose dishes off the tapas menu and they all seemed to go down very well.
The óvissuferð is priced at 5290kr which seems pretty good for what you get. Bread with hummous/tappenade was in plentiful supply and I think we all had enough to eat without feeling totally stuffed :-)
http://tapas.is/
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Kaffi Paris
It is obviously ages since I added to this!
Just went to Kaffi Paris on Austurstræti in Reykjavík. They do brunch from 11-16 on Saturdays and we went there just before 11 so odered fruit juice while the clock ticked. Brunch cost 1395kr as far as I recall and was good! Though an odd combination of food:
2 slices toast (I love toasted slice white bread but not everyone does)
bacon
2 fried eggs
fried potatoes
sun-dried tomatoes and artichokes (bit out of place)
butter
jam
2 Icelandic pancakes, sugared and rolled up
Coffee was 300kr and came in a vacuum jug so plenty of top-ups and it was very good coffee with a tiny bar of chocolate.
Really good way to start Saturday, then off to do the weekly shop :-)
Just went to Kaffi Paris on Austurstræti in Reykjavík. They do brunch from 11-16 on Saturdays and we went there just before 11 so odered fruit juice while the clock ticked. Brunch cost 1395kr as far as I recall and was good! Though an odd combination of food:
2 slices toast (I love toasted slice white bread but not everyone does)
bacon
2 fried eggs
fried potatoes
sun-dried tomatoes and artichokes (bit out of place)
butter
jam
2 Icelandic pancakes, sugared and rolled up
Coffee was 300kr and came in a vacuum jug so plenty of top-ups and it was very good coffee with a tiny bar of chocolate.
Really good way to start Saturday, then off to do the weekly shop :-)
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Ítalía
Ítalía is a well established place, seem sto me that it has been open for 20 years or more though the owners have changed a few times.
The whole family went there for a celebration meal last night and it was packed full. When we booked the table we were told that we could book at 6 or 8 and chose the later time.
We all had a starters, main and dessert. This was way too much food so almost nothing got finished which was a shame. I had fried mushrooms as a starter, the others had snails, parma ham with melon, tomato and mozzerella, and a chicken salad. All good. The mushrooms were not very exciting but good all the same.
Main courses are very varied as there are a few meat or fish dishes, lots of pastas and also pizzas so no problem finding what people wanted and it all arrived at about the same time.
We spent almost 3 hours there and did not feel we were waiting or bein g hurried so we were very happy with the evening.
The website is here: http://www.italia.is/italia/
Horrible website but it gives the full menu with prices :-)
The whole family went there for a celebration meal last night and it was packed full. When we booked the table we were told that we could book at 6 or 8 and chose the later time.
We all had a starters, main and dessert. This was way too much food so almost nothing got finished which was a shame. I had fried mushrooms as a starter, the others had snails, parma ham with melon, tomato and mozzerella, and a chicken salad. All good. The mushrooms were not very exciting but good all the same.
Main courses are very varied as there are a few meat or fish dishes, lots of pastas and also pizzas so no problem finding what people wanted and it all arrived at about the same time.
We spent almost 3 hours there and did not feel we were waiting or bein g hurried so we were very happy with the evening.
The website is here: http://www.italia.is/italia/
Horrible website but it gives the full menu with prices :-)
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Santa Maria
Celebrated my last exam by having lunch with a co-student. We went to Santa Maria. Found at Laugavegur 22 on the main shopping street, this is a cheap and cheerful place.
I had quesidillo with a potato filling, tomato and chilli sauce, salad etc. It was lovely, full of flavour and very fresh. My friend had a similar dish but with chicken filling and a chocolate sauce which she loved.
Each dish was 1170kr which is nothing to complain about. I totally recommend this place :-)
I had quesidillo with a potato filling, tomato and chilli sauce, salad etc. It was lovely, full of flavour and very fresh. My friend had a similar dish but with chicken filling and a chocolate sauce which she loved.
Each dish was 1170kr which is nothing to complain about. I totally recommend this place :-)
Friday, January 30, 2009
Krúska
Hi again
I had lunch at Krúska today, Suðurlandsbraut 12. My husband seems to eat there a lot since it is close to his office and he is trying to be healthy (in between unhealthy coke and hot dogs I suspect). I totally forgot about this blog so I was not making mental notes, sorry :-(
They seem to do one hot dish of the day and one soup of the day, plus a lot of salads which can be eaten there or taken home. They also sell organic fruit and veg, and various healthy juices and so on.
I was surprised to find that the dish of the day was "meat lasagne" but it was light on the pasta and probably had more vegetables in than most lasagnes do. It was delicious, very well seasoned, and was served with a green salad and a slice of bread (optional garlic butter for the bread).
Here is the menu for the day; taken from their website at http://www.kruska.is/
Fimmtudagur 29. janúar 2009.
Réttur dagsins
Við förum til Ítalíu og bjóðum upp á kjöt-lasagna
með rauðri sósu, krydduðu salati og
tómatbrauði
Verð kr. 1350, -
Súpa dagsins
Íslensk rófusúpa með erlendu ívafi
heimabakað brauði og tapenade.
Verð kr. 800, -
Healthy and good food seems to be the order of the day there. They do chicken dishes as well as vegetarian and are part owned by Náttúrulækningafélagið Íslands, Nature Health Association of Iceland. Their website can be found here: http://www.hnlfi.is/
A friendly place to visit.
I had lunch at Krúska today, Suðurlandsbraut 12. My husband seems to eat there a lot since it is close to his office and he is trying to be healthy (in between unhealthy coke and hot dogs I suspect). I totally forgot about this blog so I was not making mental notes, sorry :-(
They seem to do one hot dish of the day and one soup of the day, plus a lot of salads which can be eaten there or taken home. They also sell organic fruit and veg, and various healthy juices and so on.
I was surprised to find that the dish of the day was "meat lasagne" but it was light on the pasta and probably had more vegetables in than most lasagnes do. It was delicious, very well seasoned, and was served with a green salad and a slice of bread (optional garlic butter for the bread).
Here is the menu for the day; taken from their website at http://www.kruska.is/
Fimmtudagur 29. janúar 2009.
Réttur dagsins
Við förum til Ítalíu og bjóðum upp á kjöt-lasagna
með rauðri sósu, krydduðu salati og
tómatbrauði
Verð kr. 1350, -
Súpa dagsins
Íslensk rófusúpa með erlendu ívafi
heimabakað brauði og tapenade.
Verð kr. 800, -
Healthy and good food seems to be the order of the day there. They do chicken dishes as well as vegetarian and are part owned by Náttúrulækningafélagið Íslands, Nature Health Association of Iceland. Their website can be found here: http://www.hnlfi.is/
A friendly place to visit.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Ban Thai
Yesterday was my son's birthday. We often opt to eat out when there is a birthday in the family and this time he chose Ban Thai and invited along a couple of family friends so we were seven altogether.
We had booked a table, which is always a good idea on a Saturday. Ban Thai can be found at 130 Laugavegur, just up the road from the bus station at Hlemmur. It serves Thai food (obviously!) and has fairly basic tables and the usual Thai decorations of pictures and carvings.
Full marks for good quality, beautifully folded, material serviettes. The menu is long and looks a bit scruffy but I think there is a new one in the pipe-line.
We could not quite decide if we should have starters or not but then noticed that they have two starters which offer 7 sticks of grilled meat, with sauce. That was just perfect for us so we had one each of those: chicken with a bowl of satay sauce; and pork with a chilli sauce poured over. They were both really good. It seems odd to serve seven sticks of meat though - it was a bit too large for one person as a starter but hard to share fairly for two or three!
(While on the subject of satay, I saw on BBC tv that satay actually means three bits of meat, so does that mean that satay sauce is just the sauce to go with three bits of meat? I need to look into that.)
We always like to pick dishes but share the results and that is what we did last night. I can't remember the proper names of them all but we had something along the lines of:
Pad Thai (very good, round rice noodles, other places I have had flat ones. I would be happy to order that again).
Beef Massman (I didn't eat this myself but it was popular with the rest, came in a clay pot with a heater underneath, quite spicy).
Lobster tails (I am never wild about lobster tails in Thai/Chinese places. In case you don't know, the lobster tails here are about 5cm long. The one I ate had the nasty black digestive tract still in which is always a bit off putting. Other than that it was fine).
Chicken in oyster sauce (good, tasty, one to choose if you don't like chilli).
Chicken with cashew (as above, lots of veg with this one).
Lamb in jungle curry (this came in a clay pot with heater. Very liquid and we were warned that it was very "hot". It wasn't very good actually, the meat was tough and I would not buy it again).
Chicken in a red curry paste (again we warned that this was very hot. The waiter said that sometimes people returned it but that he had to insist it was paid for. This was my choice and I insisted it would be fine....and luckily it was! It certainly had alot of chilli in it, including some large pieces which I put to one side. Our guests had actually been to Thailand to visit their daughter who was there as an exchange student some years ago. They said that Thai people do not seem to eat the sauce very much, it is more a cooking medium than part of the dish. SO, following that advice I fished out the chunk of chicken (covered in sauce all the same as it was a thick sauce) and I thought it was very good indeed. No qualms about ordering that again).
Not entirely sure that I have all those details down exactly right but close enough! The seven dishes all arrived together and were all hot. The rice was very good and re-filled when we needed it. We had asoft drinks, larger and a bottle of white wine. They do sell Thai wine but we went for one from Chile.
The main dishes cost around 1800kr each, the two starters were slightly less but they were large starters and the other starters cost 900kr as far as I remember.
It is a good place to eat. Not posh and the service could be better. Lots of dishes to choose from so wise to play it safe with some and take a chance with others if you are not sure what you are ordering.
We had booked a table, which is always a good idea on a Saturday. Ban Thai can be found at 130 Laugavegur, just up the road from the bus station at Hlemmur. It serves Thai food (obviously!) and has fairly basic tables and the usual Thai decorations of pictures and carvings.
Full marks for good quality, beautifully folded, material serviettes. The menu is long and looks a bit scruffy but I think there is a new one in the pipe-line.
We could not quite decide if we should have starters or not but then noticed that they have two starters which offer 7 sticks of grilled meat, with sauce. That was just perfect for us so we had one each of those: chicken with a bowl of satay sauce; and pork with a chilli sauce poured over. They were both really good. It seems odd to serve seven sticks of meat though - it was a bit too large for one person as a starter but hard to share fairly for two or three!
(While on the subject of satay, I saw on BBC tv that satay actually means three bits of meat, so does that mean that satay sauce is just the sauce to go with three bits of meat? I need to look into that.)
We always like to pick dishes but share the results and that is what we did last night. I can't remember the proper names of them all but we had something along the lines of:
Pad Thai (very good, round rice noodles, other places I have had flat ones. I would be happy to order that again).
Beef Massman (I didn't eat this myself but it was popular with the rest, came in a clay pot with a heater underneath, quite spicy).
Lobster tails (I am never wild about lobster tails in Thai/Chinese places. In case you don't know, the lobster tails here are about 5cm long. The one I ate had the nasty black digestive tract still in which is always a bit off putting. Other than that it was fine).
Chicken in oyster sauce (good, tasty, one to choose if you don't like chilli).
Chicken with cashew (as above, lots of veg with this one).
Lamb in jungle curry (this came in a clay pot with heater. Very liquid and we were warned that it was very "hot". It wasn't very good actually, the meat was tough and I would not buy it again).
Chicken in a red curry paste (again we warned that this was very hot. The waiter said that sometimes people returned it but that he had to insist it was paid for. This was my choice and I insisted it would be fine....and luckily it was! It certainly had alot of chilli in it, including some large pieces which I put to one side. Our guests had actually been to Thailand to visit their daughter who was there as an exchange student some years ago. They said that Thai people do not seem to eat the sauce very much, it is more a cooking medium than part of the dish. SO, following that advice I fished out the chunk of chicken (covered in sauce all the same as it was a thick sauce) and I thought it was very good indeed. No qualms about ordering that again).
Not entirely sure that I have all those details down exactly right but close enough! The seven dishes all arrived together and were all hot. The rice was very good and re-filled when we needed it. We had asoft drinks, larger and a bottle of white wine. They do sell Thai wine but we went for one from Chile.
The main dishes cost around 1800kr each, the two starters were slightly less but they were large starters and the other starters cost 900kr as far as I remember.
It is a good place to eat. Not posh and the service could be better. Lots of dishes to choose from so wise to play it safe with some and take a chance with others if you are not sure what you are ordering.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Kaffihúsið Garðurinn
Full of good intentions....but getting off to a very slow start here!
I have been thinking about "reviewing" the places I go for coffee, in a very haphazard sort of way. I am not a professional foodie but I do like good coffee and I love good food.
My intended first entry was for a small coffee place which I went to earlier in the month but I had no time then to write anything about it so it will have to wait until I go there again (I did say this would be haphazard!).
This week, on Wednesday, I went to Kaffihúsið Garðurinn which is also called Ecstasy's Heart Garden. This is a small vegetarian place at Klapparstígur 37 in central Reykjavík. They post a menu for the week in the window and offer a soup of the day and a dish of the day.
When I went there the soup was "Old fashioned lentil soup" and dish of the day was "Persian ratatouille of fruit and vegetables".
The soup came with two slices of home-made bread and a choice of butter or hummus. The soup was delicious, as was the hummus. The hummus tasted of lemon but I have had it before when sesame was the main flavour.
Dish of the day was lovely too. Crisp salad, chickpeas with wilted spinach, and the promised "ratatouille" which included potato, tomato, onion, and dried apricots, seasoned with cinnamon and other spices.
I chose to buy soup with a small, or half portion of the dish of the day. This cost 1350kr and was very filling. So filling that when my husband suggested coffee and cake I had to decline the cake! The cappuccino was very good (320kr), lots of flavour, hot, and not too much froth. My husband had a small slice of a caramel cake too and seemed very happy with that.
The place is small and a place to go, eat, and leave. There are about 7 tables so it probably seats 15-20 people. The walls are painted blue and stencilled. Door chimes ring nicely. the service is friendly and good, with dirty dishes cleared away and the next lot of food arriving just when it should. I was not overly fond of the music (sounded like relaxing yoga-type to me) but it was not loud so didn't bother me either.
Verdict: a good place to eat if you like vegetarian food, or are on a budget, or just like home-cooked food that makes you feel good.
I have been thinking about "reviewing" the places I go for coffee, in a very haphazard sort of way. I am not a professional foodie but I do like good coffee and I love good food.
My intended first entry was for a small coffee place which I went to earlier in the month but I had no time then to write anything about it so it will have to wait until I go there again (I did say this would be haphazard!).
This week, on Wednesday, I went to Kaffihúsið Garðurinn which is also called Ecstasy's Heart Garden. This is a small vegetarian place at Klapparstígur 37 in central Reykjavík. They post a menu for the week in the window and offer a soup of the day and a dish of the day.
When I went there the soup was "Old fashioned lentil soup" and dish of the day was "Persian ratatouille of fruit and vegetables".
The soup came with two slices of home-made bread and a choice of butter or hummus. The soup was delicious, as was the hummus. The hummus tasted of lemon but I have had it before when sesame was the main flavour.
Dish of the day was lovely too. Crisp salad, chickpeas with wilted spinach, and the promised "ratatouille" which included potato, tomato, onion, and dried apricots, seasoned with cinnamon and other spices.
I chose to buy soup with a small, or half portion of the dish of the day. This cost 1350kr and was very filling. So filling that when my husband suggested coffee and cake I had to decline the cake! The cappuccino was very good (320kr), lots of flavour, hot, and not too much froth. My husband had a small slice of a caramel cake too and seemed very happy with that.
The place is small and a place to go, eat, and leave. There are about 7 tables so it probably seats 15-20 people. The walls are painted blue and stencilled. Door chimes ring nicely. the service is friendly and good, with dirty dishes cleared away and the next lot of food arriving just when it should. I was not overly fond of the music (sounded like relaxing yoga-type to me) but it was not loud so didn't bother me either.
Verdict: a good place to eat if you like vegetarian food, or are on a budget, or just like home-cooked food that makes you feel good.
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