Café Loki is located directly in front of the Hallgrimskirkja (the big church) in Reykjavík. It offers some traditional treats of Iceland, such as smoked lamb and fermented shark. It looks a bit like a Hong Kong style café inside. I chose a table in front of the window, with a great view of the Leif Ericson statue and the church. The service is very welcoming and friendly.

Icelandic Platter II (2,150 ISK; approx $19.00 CND)

DL ended up going with the Icelandic Platter II. It is a platter of five small dishes: dried cod with butter, fish mash on rye bread, smoked trout on rye, smoked lamb on rye flatbread, and fermented shark.

Dried Cod and butter

The butter in Iceland (smjör) is so very good. I could eat this creamy goodness on anything, and it makes everything taste better. The dried cod comes in little shards that I thought were impossible to chew through. It’s a bit like the dried fish that goes into congee. Once I learned to spread the butter on the cod, the fish softened enough to bite through. I don’t know if I actually enjoyed the cod or if it was the butter that made this dish so good. Either way it was interesting. I can see how this would have been a traditional method of preservation.

Smoked Trout on Rye

The trout has a strong smoky flavour and aroma. I put together perfect bites of this with a little trout, bread and cottage cheese(?) The smoked taste works very well with the rye bread, and the trout is very bite-through-able. Café Loki makes all of their breads from scratch, and my platter had three different thicknesses of rye bread on it. The trout was on the medium thickness bread.

Plokkfiskur or Mashed Fish on Rye

This taste so much like mashed potato! The thick rye bread is soft and moist, almost cake-like. The topping is a luxurious mash of fish, smjör, cream, onions and more smjör. I could have eaten a large bowl of the cod mash alone.

Fermented Shark

Have you ever watched the Iceland episode of No Reservations? Well, this is the stuff. It is also known as putrefied shark. It is served on little toothpicks, because apparently you do not want to get the smell on your fingers. At first the saltiness hits you and then turns to an ammonia aroma that literally clears your sinuses like menthol. The ammonia reminds me of eating Chinese preserved duck eggs. Other than that, there is little flavour in those lil' cubes. DL thought the shark tasted like strong salty licorice (???) At times, I question DL’s taste buds...

Smoked Lamb on Rye

The thinnest of the rye bread, a flatbread, was supporting the piece of smoked lamb. I've never had lamb smoked before. It could have been any meat, as the smokiness covers much of the lamb flavour. This simple dish is incredibly effective. Smoky tender lamb on sweetish rye bread and of course, some more smjor! Happy maker.

Lunch Offer (1,490 ISK; approx $13.00 CND)

The Café Loki Lunch Offer included the same smoked lamb as above, strong coffee and Íslensk Kjötsúpa or Meat Soup. Of course it is made with the country’s meat: lamb. The bowl is hearty with turnips, potatoes, onions, carrots and celery. Perfect for winter in Iceland.

This was one of our first meals in Iceland and it turned out to be a great introduction. Casual, home-style, simple foods. Didn’t break the bank either.

Café Loki website click here
Café Loki Facebook click here

Okay, I know I had set aside this blog to focus on eating found in Kamloops and the surrounding areas, however I will toss in others from time to time to keep it interesting. This, and the fact that I eat a lot of different foods in a lot of different places and it's a shame to not include those once in a while.

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