Since opening its doors six weeks ago, Sushibarinn has fast become the talk of the town among Reykjavík sushi-lovers, and for good reason as their rolls are among the best in the city.
The whole setting inside the small bar makes for a good fusion between oriental tradition and the somewhat more familiar settings of the West. All the staff wear traditional Japanese robes and the stylish and warm interior gives you a feeling of being somewhere else than in Reykjavik, Iceland. This feeling became even stronger when I was greeted by an English-speaking chef with a German accent. While we waited for our food I enjoyed taking in the scenery, especially the view coming from a TV-monitor in one of the corners. It was showing what I’m sure must be the Japanese version of Power Rangers, only this one is much better.
For starters we had miso soup and seaweed salad. I had never tried miso soup before and to be honest I didn’t like it. But my companion for the evening assured me that it was very good and since she has more experience than me in this field I’m going to take her word for it. The seaweed salad on the other hand was deliciously fresh and exotic. Our next course was the “best for one” dish which consisted of twelve different kinds of sushi. We got Nigiri rolls, small rolls, inside-out rolls, battleship sushi and so on. The mix changes from day to day depending on the availability of fresh ingredients. Next the waiter brought us six pieces of salmon uramaki (inside-out rolls). As expected they were delicious. Last but not least we were served minke whale tatake which came with ginger, mustard and dipping sauce which had a liquorice taste to it. It was so good that I’m sure that if we gave it to Paul Watson he would abandon his ridiculous crusade and become a whale hunter.
It has always been a dream of mine to visit Japan, but until that happens I’m going to make the most of the little piece of Japan found at Laugavegur 2. I hope you will too.
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