A delicacy / must-eat in Iceland is eating a little piece of petrified shark, and washing it down with a shot of Brennivín. I got a chance to try it when I dined at Lækjarbrekka.
Lækjarbrekka has been serving Scandinavian cuisine since 1981 in one of the oldest, most iconic buildings in the heart of Reykjavik. I had the opportunity to dine at Lækjarbrekka during my visit to Iceland and had a great time.
The interior of this restaurant is definitely does not have a modern look, as the house that the restaurant is in has been used since 1834 (with renovations in the more recent years). With the dim lighting and candlelit tables, it is truly a lovely spot to go with your significant other for a nice meal.
I decided to go for their Icleandic Feast 4-course tasting menu, as it included langoustine (!!) and lamb as the main dish. And with wine pairings, I honestly couldn't say no.
We started off with this beautiful Icelandic Taste platter. It came with smoked lamb, wind dried fish, fermented shark, gravlax, flatbread, and seaweed. But the most interesting part of the platter was definitely the petrified shark.
You're supposed to wash it down with a shot of Brennivin aka "Black Death" :|
V and I both ate a cube and took a sip of the Brennivin. Eep.
It was very interesting, to say the least ._. I am not too sure I'd ever do it again, to be honest lol! But as an Icelandic delicacy, I would highly recommend you try this out for yourself!
For the second course, it was paired with a glass of Chablis. (yummm)
V ordered the french onion soup, which she said was spoonful after spoonful of onions.
For me, the second course of my Iceland Feast was this creamy langoustine soup.
It came with 4 big chucks of langoustine and it was sooo good. I slurped it up like nobody's business!
Third pairing was a glass of red from Bordeaux.
It paired really well with the main course that came along side it. This dish is called the Mountain & Bay. It consisted of a pan fried lamb fillet, grilled langoustine, and a potato terrine with thyme sauce. It was SO good. The lamb was cooked really well, and the langoustine was was so juicy! However, I'm sad to say that I was really full at this point so I couldn't try the potato terrine.
V ordered the grilled beef tenderloin, that came with a baked potato, asparagus and béarnaise sauce. She ordered it medium rare, but it wasn't cooked evenly. So that was a shame :(
For the last pairing, I had a flute of a dessert wine from Trapiche. I unfortunately can't see or remember which it was! It was a sweet wine though, which was really rich and worked well with my chocolate cake I got for dessert.
I'm honestly telling you right now... Iceland is a huge fan of chocolate cakes!! And so am I, which is why I've enjoyed my time here so much lol. I also got a Baileys, which was nice since it was warm and also tasted really well with the chocolate cake. Let's just say I had a lot of liquids this meal and it was awesome.
Overall, I really enjoyed my time here. We had good service, although our server disappeared at the end. I am pretty sure it was because we took forever to eat (I think we stayed there for almost 3.5 hours?!). I just eat really slow lol. I really enjoyed my tasting menu, and I'd highly recommend getting it with the wine pairings. They give you a really good portion for the price you pay. And trust me when I say to bring your appetite!! You will be leaving happy and full by the end of your meal at Lækjarbrekka!
*This meal was complimentary, however, please note that all my opinions made are my own.*
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