good baked goods

Any map of the city center in Reykjavik is a little deceiving. Everything looks like it's a bit of a trek when actually it's a 5-10 minute walk. Reykjavik is a tiny and low lying city. So when Candice and I set out for what we thought was the long walk to Sandholt bakery, the oldest bakery in Reykjavik, we stumbled upon it unexpectedly quickly and it was right opposite the record store that launched Bjork & Sigur Ros's careers.





On the second day of eating and nature, I had a twisty cinnamon and chocolate pastry that comes in a long braid and you can tell them how much you want. I didn't realise they weren't in serving size portions, so the lady who was serving me looked quite horrified when I said I'd like 1 piece and I'd like to eat in instead of taking it away.



It's the most cinnamon crammed into a pastry I've ever tasted. Candice got a meat and potato quiche which was tasty tasty tasty. We both had a bad case of food envy and ordered what each other had had the next day.




They also had some earl grey ice cream, the best tea flavored ice cream I've had. The other ice cream that makes my top 3 favourite ice creams of all time was a tiny scoop of lavender honey Cornish ice cream at Borough Market in London.



These were some confections at the bakery. I have no idea what the chocolate bottomed cream boat was, or the curious green flying saucer like thing chocolate around it was, but I was sadly too stuffed to be tempted.







Icelandic pastry is yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmy. It doesn't look as golden and toasty as its French Croissant counterparts, but it is infinitely more tasty.


This is a picture of Mr Sandholt.

I met a couple who were raving about the gas station pastry they bought when they were driving around the perimeter of the whole country....mmmmm gas station food.



INCIDENTALLY, Icelandic gas stations have to be the most picturesque pit stops. This was the view from a gas station at Vik, which means bay in Icelandic. Reykavik means smokey/steamy bay) at the south coast (Suderland). Iceland is a hotbed for geothermal energy, so streets are heated by hot water that leaves the heating systems in the house so in the winter, they don't get icy. Verrrrry efficient. In older times, bread was baked not in a fire or coal oven, but in a cave heated by a hot spring.

Speaking of gas station food, this cafeteria was connected to a gas station and was where we stopped for lunch. I was a little hesitant about ordering lamb chops at what seemed to be a semi fast food joint. But all Icelandic lamb ranges free, and I am free to order it without too much of a how-was-this-food-raised struggle. In fact, this has been the one place where I can stop worrying about where the food comes from since land and fish are so abundant and there aren't that many people to feed – so enormous, crowded, dirty and unsafe farm monstrosities don't exist. I saw tons of sheep happily munching with tails wagging on artic herbs and grass on the way down and a happy sheep makes a tasty lamb. If you lived outside by enormous waterfalls, drinking glacial melt and eating angelica flowers, lounging in artic grass, you would be tasty too.





It was incredibly juicy!!!!!!!





I'm not sure what is up with the Zorro/Incredibles powerguy on the lime green juicebox, but there are plenty of weird food characters here. These jumpy frogs on ice cream boxes for example:



Finally, we had dinner at Fishmarket. I'm not sure if it was the surprisingly wonderful lunch that we had, or my tepid feelings towards Asian fusion food, but it was a litttttle bit of a disappointment. There is no reason to oversauce and over salt fish so fresh, and even though it was good, this restaurant was plenty hyped up and if you are ever in Reykjavik, there is better fish to be had.



They do make a mouthwatering passionfruit cocktail though!