Iceland Day 20 – Free Day in Reykjavík

Sunday September 14, Lazy Day in Reykjavík

Just a day before we were to return home to Oregon, I scheduled a full day in the capital city. We were here for a day three weeks ago but I planned nothing for then, expecting jetlag, and truthfully, we were too tired to see much of the town. Today, I hoped to walk the city, photograph whatever caught my eye, hit a brewpub, and eat out at a restaurant.

Obligatory Photo of Hallgrímskirkja
on Skólavörðustígur

Last night was not the greatest night of sleep I have ever had. Women shrieking and howling at a nearby bar woke me at 0020. Reykjavík has a reputation for partying long into the night, often just getting started after midnight. The women certainly kept at it until I finally fell back asleep around 0230. It was silent once again at 0300 as the gentle sounds of rain woke me, having ended the fun or chased the party indoors. In either case, good for me. When I woke up for good, it was still raining, albeit gently, day number 19 of 21 days with rain while here.

What to do on a dreary and rainy Sunday morning in Reykjavík? Laze around in bed was our answer. With the forecast for the rain to end by noon, we felt no urgency to go out in it. We can see sights in the afternoon or tomorrow before heading to the airport after lunch. Or not at all.

Coffee Not Worth the Wait

We finally got motivated to get coffee, electing to try Kaffibrennslan, a block away on Laugavegur, as recommended by our somm at Port9 last evening. On a rainy Sunday morning, the place was packed like a sardine tin, but fortunately, Ann scored an empty table upstairs. While we sat waiting for our coffees which were promised in 10 minutes, we devoured excellent croissants. Then we waited some more for coffee from the backed up espresso machine. Then we waited some more. At long last, our coffees appeared, more than 30 minutes after I ordered. And it was not even all that good coffee.

After coffee, I dropped Ann off back at the apartment and grabbed my camera for a wander about downtown in the light drizzle. My first stop was about three blocks away at Hallgrímskirkja which from close range seemed to owe its inspiration to the columnar basalt formations so common in Iceland. Later in the afternoon this was confirmed when I overheard a tour guide telling his group that the architect took his cue from Svartifoss, the waterfall coursing over a columnar cliff that we saw at Skaftafell earlier this week. From the top of the hill, I wandered in a big circuit back to the apartment.

Colorful Houses on our Street

Tour Guide Outside Hallgrímskirkja

Door Decoration at Hallgrímskirkja

Window Display at Brauð & Co

Back at the apartment, I spent some time pulling all my gear and clothes together for the flight tomorrow. It was time to fold up the shopping bag and day pack so they would fit in my suitcase. Also, it was time to put all my camera gear except one camera back in its box. I could feel the clock ticking away on this vacation.

Ann and I did a bit of poking around on the internet trying to find a place for lunch today and a place for lunch tomorrow before our flight home. Many restaurants that we might have wanted to try are not open on Sunday and even fewer on Monday. By some means now long forgotten, we came to a decision to visit Le Kock for lunch today and I found some positive reviews for a seafood restaurant called Messinn for tomorrow.

Once we got hungry, we started down the hill in the direction of the harbor to find Le Kock, which is situated right across the street from where the cruise ships dock. The area was fairly busy with cruise ship tourists scrambling to find a bite before they had to reboard. Le Kock is an interesting concept, fine dining technique applied to pub grub from three chefs from Matur og Drykkur (Food and Drink) who worked under Gísli Matt.

Located on the first floor of a hotel, the restaurant has three separate counters labeled Deig (dough), Tail (cocktail), and Le Kock (chef) all surrounded by communal seating. You order food at either Deig, doing a rocking business with sandwiches for the time-pressed cruise ship crowd, or at Le Kock. Then you can order from the bar at Tail if you want alcohol.

I ordered at the Le Kock counter then went to find Annie who had claimed a table and was jamming out to “Shimmy Shimmy” by Prince Fatty. I went up to the bar to get us a couple of beers to sip while waiting on our food which turned out much better than average pub grub.

Beers at Le Kock

Starter: KFC Wings

Left: The Big Red Machine Chicken Sandwich
Right: Fried Potatoes with Chipotle Sauce

We started with KFC wings which were really good wings, but not Korean fried chicken as I understand how to make it, missing that ultra-crispy crust and the nose hair-singeing sauce for which KFC is renowned. We also ordered the sandwich called the Big Red Machine, a deep-fried chicken thigh with hot honey glaze, bacon, cheddar, red cabbage, pickles, and Japanese mayo, on a Deig-made potato sesame roll. I do not know if the name of the sandwich has anything to do with the 1970s Cincinnati baseball dynasty of the same name, but it was delicious. To accompany that, we got a bowl of fried halved tiny potatoes with guacamole, chipotle sauce, bacon, and green onions.

After lunch, we wandered around gradually making our way up the hill to Hallgrímskirkja, which Ann had not yet seen. The rain seemed to have disappeared while we were eating lunch.

If the Fake Raptor is Supposed to Scare off Birds....

...It Does Not Work

I Think This is a Juvenile Herring Gull

Icelanders are Rightfully Proud of Their Wool

Leif Ericsson Statue at Hallgrímskirkja 
Gift from U.S. on 1000th Anniversary of the Alþing

Ann Found a Friend

In the late afternoon, we returned to our room to take showers, relax, and get ready for our visit to Skál for dinner. Ann had really wanted to dine at Skál, but we could never score a reservation back at home. We were fortunate to get the sommelier at Slippurinn in Vestmannaeyjabær to book a table for us (Slippurinn chef Gislí Matt is a partner in Skál). Skál, which means cheers but is pronounced like scowl rather than the Scandinavian skål pronunciation which is our skoal, started in a food hall closer to the harbor, but has moved to its own space up the hill. We were looking forward to their take on local Icelandic dishes.

At 1829 we set out for our 1830 reservation at Skál. The restaurant is at number 1 and our apartment was at number 5 on the same street, with just number 3 between us. I do not know if this is coincidence or destiny or just dumb luck.

Dinner Here Tonight

As at Slippurinn, we ordered the tasting menu. When I asked if wine pairings were available, I was told that they were not but they would bring us their short list, which for a restaurant of this caliber, needs an awful lot of help from a sommelier.

One of the staff recommended Dope, a basically still pet nat (pétillant naturel, naturally sparkling) rosé from Claus Preisinger, Burgenland, Austria. This wine that leads with red fruit (earthy cherry, pomegranate, and rhubarb) was balanced and worked well with our meal. Pet nat is bottled while it is still fermenting such that it lightly carbonates the wine though this one was still. I am not a big pet nat fan, having tasted too many rustic beery bottles of cloudy wine. However, this one worked.

As an aside, in a former life, I used to wrangle wine labels through the approval process at the TTB which has a laundry list of things that must appear on the label and another list of verboten items. I imagine Dope falls squarely on that latter list.

Pet Nat Blaufränkisch
Imagine TTB Approving This Label!

I say "one of the staff" recommended the wine because, like at Slippurinn, everyone seemed to do just about everything and I do not know that we had one person in charge of our table. I do know that it was a team effort. I saw the expo run food to tables and once when our microgreens were dying in the pass under the heat lamps, one of the line cooks gave up waiting on a runner and ran the plates himself before the greens wilted. The staff was not as on point, however, as at Slippurinn, but the A team may not have been working on a relatively slower Sunday.

Radishes, Smoked Crème Fraîche, Rye Bread Crumbs, Cress Sprouts

Raw Scallops, Red Currant Granita, Horseradish Cream, Dill Oil

Mini Loaf of Bread with Garlic Herb Butter

Charred Leeks, Mashed Potatoes, Chervil, Flaked White Fish
A Line Cook Ran This and Did Not Describe The Dish

Beef Tartare, Cress Sprouts, Freshly Grated Horseradish
on Tarragon-Flavored Mousse


Lemon Sole, Kale, Sauce Blanquette
Kale Inedible and Tough

Lamb Prime, Grilled Babygem Lettuce

Deconstructed Cheesecake
Blueberries, Skyr Mousse, Hazelnut Crumble, Sorrel Granita
Skyr Has the Perfect Cheesy Flavor for This

I enjoyed this dinner but the experience was likely colored by our visit to Slippurinn where the dishes were a bit more soigné, a bit more focused, as were the staff. The staff here were not communicating among themselves as well as they should have. Also, there was a 30-minute delay between the sole and lamb courses. I hesitate to blame this on the kitchen (often when this happens, the server has forgotten to fire the dish), but it seems that the expo in the kitchen was pacing the meal.

For the food, a downside was the almost inedibly tough kale served with the fish. Also, the tough connective tissue in the lamb shoulder made it hard to cut and eat gracefully. I do not mind eating ungracefully, but this is fine dining. Highlights were the entire radish dish, the mini loaf of bread, the tarragon-flavored mousse under the beef tartare, and the entire dessert.

All in all, I was pleased with our dinner and I stumbled fully sated the 50 meters to our apartment for our final night in Reykjavík.