Pisa

In a small-ish cellar by Lækjagata, you’ll find newly opened Italian restaurant Pisa. The interior is roughly unaltered from the cellar’s previous life as a café. No fancy revamp by the expensive designers. Today, this seems only logical.
For starters we were served seafood soup and a carpaccio. The soup was made of clear broth and had langoustines, prawns and shellfish. It was quite tasty, served with bread and some sort of chili mayo that I could have gone without. It is about time to sway from the creamy seafood soup that has become traditional in Icelandic restaurants. The carpaccio was the usual treat, with parma cheese, rocket leaves and olive oil.
Our main dishes consisted of a slow-roasted shank of lamb, cooked in red wine and herbs and a fillet of plaice with shellfish risotto. Both were exquisite.
The lamb-shank was served perfectly roasted with a mash of normal- and sweet-potatoes, a delicious red-wine sauce and a decoration of rocket leaves and parmesan. The plaice itself appeared to be roasted in its own juice, sparingly peppered – which was well as the fish was perfectly fresh – served on top of an almost perfect shellfish risotto. Both plates were of much higher quality than anything else we tasted that evening, and in fact better than the place itself suggests, somehow.
For desserts, we had a Tiramisu and a Pavlova. Both were nice, maybe not completely authentic, but irresistible in any case. The coffee deserves a special mention.
The price of the food ranges from relatively inexpensive to medium priced. Starters go for between 1.050 to 1.890 ISK and main courses range from 1.890 to 3.290. No alarms and no surprises. One can actually expect to have a two-course meal for around 5.000 ISK. This will be plenty of food. Wine is expensive in Iceland and restaurateurs are helpless in this regard.
Strictly speaking, there are two small complaints: the interior of the place is no match for the quality of the food, and the plates appear a bit crowded or over-decorated. This is partly due to the lavish portions. Just concentrate on the food and you are likely to enjoy a good experience for a modest price.

Where: Lækjargata 6B, 101 Reykjavík

What we think: Look no further for the perfect lamb shank.

How Much: 2000ISK

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