Sushi tends to be a contentious topic. While the purists (“I eat sashimi and sashimi only”) dismiss places serving elaborate rolls, Icelanders tend to enjoy creative takes on classics and have a special affinity for sauce. And Sushisamba excels on both counts. “It’s not even up for debate,” one of our panellists noted. “They’re creative, they think outside of the box.” Another avid fan pointed out that “they don’t do the sushi in a very traditional Japanese way, but that’s not necessarily bad, as a lot of the sushi you get anywhere has some international influence…I can only say this: people think rice is easy. For sushi it is not, if you want to get it just right. Making it OK is easy. Making it dead-on is hard.” Thus, Sushisamba takes the toro, err…Spicy Chicken Roll…err…Deep-Fried Volcano Roll with extra spicy mayo on top.

2013: Sakebarinn
2012: SuZushii
2011: SuZushii
2010: Sushibarinn
2009: Sushismiðjan

Photo by Alisa Kalyanova