After a vigorous session of yoga, I can imagine that there are few things more satisfying than a ridiculously healthy meal. Ravaging a thick, bloody hamburger isn’t exactly appealing after cleansing your mind, body and soul, right? So, at least, attests the philosophy behind Gló, a newly opened organic restaurant in collaboration with the Rope yoga studio in Laugardalur. Gló utilises a refreshingly uncluttered approach to healthy eating. Without flooding its dishes with an excess of spice and ingredients, Gló offers simple and wholesome organic cuisine that serves a quick and healthy purpose. You can even skip the yoga if you want.
On a recent Wednesday morning, my dining companion and I ventured into the small and stylised dining area in the Listhús building. The menu options were marginal but sufficient. For the carnivore, a chicken casserole with a side of wild rice and three different salads, including an apple and julienned beet salad, a plantain salad and a Waldorf salad, all for 1,250 ISK. I selected a pumpkin and apple soup for 850 ISK, which was followed by a basket of whole-wheat bread and garlic hummus on a small wooden tray.
The soup was quite delicious, topped with a fanciful splatter of cream and a sprinkling of lightly toasted salvia which, combined, created a warm and tangy taste quite unlike anything I have laid taste buds on before. The chicken was well cooked, lightly spiced and prepared with okra, giving it a gumbo-like quality, a detail and an ingredient that my dining companion was quite thrilled by.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the portions were very appropriate, and by the end of our meal we were not only full, but felt quite good about it. We finished with lattes and two servings of the day’s dessert, Hjónabandssæla, an Icelandic pie, topped with blueberries and a side of whipped cream. Hjónabandssæla, something that here in Iceland you might expect and enjoy mainly at tea at your grandmother’s house, is a dessert made simply from oatmeal, butter, flour and jam. A fitting end to our fit meal.
With fresh and high-quality ingredients, simple delivery, and the news of an impending juice bar, Gló has already crawled onto the map of Reykjavík’s health-conscious, but it is quite qualified to catch the attention of the rest of us. Thankfully, they don’t make eating well all that complicated. VÞ
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