Lystin

I have to admit that I was a little sceptical when I was assigned this review, for the premises that currently house this fine restaurant had lodged many unsavoury bars before. To turn things around the present owner has performed a complete makeover on the place and the renovations sure are successful. As soon as we walked through the door, the owner greeted us and made us feel at home. He informed us that we would have a tasting menu which he had great interest in offering more, but the menu is perpetually a subject to change. The menu is a fusion of sorts between several cuisine cultures. Everything used in the cookery is bought fresh in the morning and if they run out of stocks they simply cannot receive any more visitors – extremely genuine and homey.      We started out with a shot of a sherry-like wine and subsequently numerous dishes appeared on our table. The tasting menu we were served contained mostly seafood and the tiger shrimps that were the backbone of the first aperitif could easily be described as impeccable. Following the shrimp triumph they gave us a taste of the rather unorthodox dish of tea-boiled catfish along with some kind of potato compound sprinkled with onion sauce. The owner, and our waiter for the night, allowed us to try several kinds of wine to accompany the meal. Every wine he offered seemed to be affiliated with some personal account of his which he filled us in on while simultaneously pouring it in the glasses.  After having finalised the experience with goat-cheese salad, homemade gnocchi and some juicy veal shanks, the owner informed us, over a cup of outstanding macchiato, of several specials that were going on these days, e.g. a four-course meal for two with a fine wine selection for merely ISK 10.000 and a certain ‘Wine-Flight’ where you get four glasses of different wines for a lousy ISK 1800. That’s nice.

WHERE: Laugavegur 73, 101 Reykjavík
HOW MUCH: 1500 – 5000ISK