Puffin, Whale and Rock N'Roll

My quest to consume all the animals of Iceland continued tonight. I looked up a great little Icelandic restaurant called 3 Frakkar which serves traditional dishes in a small but crowded dining room. Starting off I ordered an appetizer of smoked puffin. It came in small strips about three inches long with a mustard to dip it in. The meat is a dark reddsh brown and smoked, but not heat cooked. The flavor was really good, strongly smokey and salty, however, the texture of raw poultry was a bit odd. I enjoyed it quite a bit and even got Erin to try a couple of bites. She wasn't a huge fan.

Smoked Puffin

Shortly thereafter (the service was really fast, despite being crowded) the waitress brought out our main courses. Peppered whale steak for me and a smoked haddock dish for Erin. I was surprised by how much like beef the whale looked at first, though I really don't know what I was expecting. The meat itself was very rare and surprisingly lean (I was expecting it to be very fatty) and rich though fairly mild flavored. I really enjoyed the whale, the meat was tender and tasty and the portion was pretty massive, so much so that slow eating Erin finished long before I did.

Whale Steaks, bummed the picture quality isn't better, it was so delicious.

As I finished the next table over was brought a skyr brulee. Skyr is an Icelandic cheese that's something like a cross between cream cheese and yogurt. The brulee was amazing, one of the most delicious deserts I've ever had. The skyr itself is not terribly sweet, but the caramelized sugar on top and fruit sauce and cream on the side made it absolutely perfect. I can best describe it as a very light cheesecake that's only mildly sweet. Hands down the best (of many awesome) meals I've had so far in Iceland. As yet the cuisine of this country does not disappoint.

Forgot to take a pic of the skyr brulee until after we devoured it.

We then headed back to the main drag that runs past many of the cities nightclubs and bars. On the way we passed the Hallgrimskirja, impressively standing in front of the full super moon. The night was clear and calm and provided some great photos of the scene. By this point it was only 11 or so, still very early by Iceland standards, and not many people were out and about yet. We did find a very neat little bar next door to our hostel which was playing live music. We went inside up some treacherously iced-over stairs. The bands inside played some pretty cood rock, only the first sang in Icelandic. After listening to three bands we walked down to another section of downtown where we found a bar called, simply enough, the Icelandic bar. It was a large but not overly crowded place. In the corner a particularly boistrous group sang, chanted and initiated bar-wide toasts. They really don't mess around when it comes to drinking and merry-making here.

Leif Erikson in front of SUPER MOON!

As lance was coming in early this morning we thought better than staying out all night so we could meet him when he got in from the airport. As we made our way back to the hostel it was nearly 2am and things were just starting to kick into high gear. Groups of drunk people stumbled around everywhere, sing and chanting. This seems to be a pretty average weekend night.

Lance arrived this morning, we go some breakfast and checked them into the hotel. As I write this Lance is taking a nap to recover from his flight. That's all for now, we're meeting up soon to hit some museums this afternoon.

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