It’s late morning in a rainy Reykjavik. The low clouds almost obscure the spire of the iconic Hallgrímskirkja and we’re glad that we both brought our raincoats. After a visit to the imposing church, we head on down the hill into a quiet residential suburb to find Þrír Frakkar, the real reason for braving the elements.
Þrír simply means three – the þ letter is called thorn or, more interestingly (when you’re trying to increase the popularity of your blog), þorn! It’s pronounced th and was also used in old English words like three and the. The Tudors wrote it as y giving us ye olde English pub. Frakkar means not only trenchcoats but is also slang for Frenchmen. But that didn’t put this Englishman off visiting.
Back to the restaurant. Þrír Frakkar is a small, cosy place specializing in traditional Icelandic dishes. You know as soon as you walk in the door, that you’re in for a treat. You might change your mind however when you open the menu: putrified shark, Arctic char, fried cod chins, reindeer paté, smoked puffin, guillemot breasts, grilled horse and minke whale – either raw, cured or as a steak … oh the dilemma!
Putrefied shark doesn’t exactly sound like something that you’d order when there are other things on the menu – or even when it’s the only thing on the menu (but we did and you shouldn’t). Char is similar to salmon so no qualms there. Cod chins – do fish have chins? Reindeer – presumably Icelandic Christmas presents are delivered by Some Other Means. Puffin – is there anyone who doesn’t adore puffins (in the wild I mean – not on the plate)? Guille what? Horse – ok, I once had a girlfriend with a horse and it hated me so no problems with seeing that on the menu. But now comes the killer. Whale! I’m totally against whaling but I love raw fish. It goes without saying that it’s not a fish but how big can a portion of whale sashimi be – and how many millions of portions could one minke whale supply?
So … I struggled with the moral dilemma … and the whale lost. We only ordered a starter portion between us and I was really hoping that I’d hate it but, of course, I didn’t. It was AMAZING and even though I’ve vowed never to eat it again, I now understand why some people want to eat whale. To be clear, this isn’t a recommendation for you to eat whale; now that one of us has suffered from the predicament, there’s absolutely no reason for anyone reading this to have to suffer the same way … order the horse!!
If you’re interested in unusual food check out Where … to eat moving food and Where … to eat worms.