Sjávargrillið – Seafood Grill is a relatively new restaurant in Reykjavík, Iceland. Opened in 2011 but experienced a major fire in January 2012 but was quickly re-opened after that. This restaurant is run by Gústav Axel Gunnlaugsson, chef of the year in 2010 and Master Chef Lárus Gunnar Jónasson and currently ranks number one in Iceland on TripAdvisor.com with over 200 reviews in spite of having only been open for about two years.
Up on arrival at Seafood Grill we were greeted by the friendliest waiters and showed to our table. After skimming through the menu we decided that we wanted to be surprised and asked the waiter if the kitchen could assemble something for us that would describe the Seafood Grill at it’s best. This turned out to be no problem and they happily served us six different courses.
First up was a tasting sample of apples, beets, walnuts, rye bread dirt and dill mayo with some resemblance to the classical Waldorf Salad. This was really interesting combination of textures but quite tasty.
The second course was salted cod topped with breadcrumbs and lobster hollandaise with lobster and tomato marmalade garnished with celery root and pearl onions, a beautifully presented dish and the taste did not disappoint since it tasted even better than it looked. The cod was so spot on cooked that it literally melted away in your mouth and the breadcrumbs gave a really interesting contrast in texture against the cod. The tomato marmalade worked superbly with the one of the most delicious lobster tails we have yet tried.
Now it was time for some darker meat from the ocean, Mink whale with potato puree, pickled red onions, mushroom glaze and horseradish snow. Delicious dish with perfectly cooked and tender Mink whale but if there could be any thing found wrong with it, it would be that the lack of excitement of the potato puree which could have had a little more taste to it.
The second course was Spotted catfish, grilled and fried lobster tails with carrot puree, Icelandic barley, spring onions, carrots topped with seafood foam. Just like in the salted cod and lobster starter the grilled lobster was just superb, however the fried lobster was rolled up with cream cheese was a little too much for our taste and the course could well have done without it.
Our first desert was Blueberry Skyr pudding with Skyr foam, poprocks and strawberries, a wonderful balance of sweetness and excitement where the poprocks play a big part.
Our second desert was a fun combination of Crème brûlée, caramel foam, strawberry sorbet, strawberries and sour weed where the sorbet was our favorite, packed with flavor and not too sweet as it often is with sorbet.
Starters range from about 1.900 ISK / 16 USD to 2.700 ISK / 22 USD and entrées from about 2.500 ISK / 20 USD to 5.800 ISK / 48 USD
After having experienced dining at the Seafood Grill it comes as no surprise to us that this restaurant is ranking number one on TripAdvisor.com
This is definitely a restaurant worth visiting again and possible again after that.
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