DILL is located within The Nordic House, right outside Reykjavik’s historic downtown. The Nordic House is a cultural complex, including library and art gallery, celebrating all of the Nordic countries. The building is of famous Finnish design and DILL the restaurant has serene water views and of the airport. The restaurant gets its veggies and herbs from a garden right on site. I was very happy to be hosted to experience it!
While there’s a charming little greenhouse one can make arrangements to eat in, the cool and calm surroundings in the main building are also something to try out. Many people are familiar with DILL as a gourmet dinner spot, but may not know that there’s a prix-fixe lunch, too.
The beauty of the freshest herbs, vegetables and fish is something that’s hard to improve upon. I started with a cauliflower-celery soup. It had chive oil and garden herbs. It was bisque-like in texture, with a little chew factor from minced carrots.
Homemade Icelandic sea salt is part of the bread service! The salt was crispy, not crunchy . . . most unusual. It dissolves easily and comes in bigger pieces. The spread was a sour milk butter.
Next was a salad with pickled cucumber and wild herbs. It had chive blossom dressing, pickled red onion and cucumbers, baby greens. It was gorgeous and had fresh, clean flavors.
The next course was fried cod with potato salad. The cod had sorrel, sorrel oil, and crispy pickled cabbage. The tender cod flaked easily, and the potato salad was nice and firm, not overcooked. The fish was a generous portion!
I would definitely say that this is a good restaurant to meet someone, or take yourself. There are lots of English language wine magazines to read. It’s a place where you can “hear yourself think,” a rare thing these days. Then afterwards, you can head downstairs to check out the art gallery.
Luxe & Down-Home Cuisine/Culture/Travel/Style 