Thrir Frakkar: The Taste of Christmas and Facial Muscles

Top 3 Tasty Chins

3. Jay Leno.



This one is obvious. It’s so obvious because it’s true. That is one meaty, tender looking chin.

2. Bruce Campbell



Mr. Campbell has written a book entitled If Chins Could Kill. The key word being “if.” His cannot kill, and therefore I am higher on the food chain.

1. The Cod



Who knew?

Q and I sprung for a nice meal one night at Thrir Frakkar (Three Coats), a cozy seafood restaurant right around the corner from our guesthouse. It was off the main street in a more residential area, and it definitely felt like a place where both tourists and locals stop in for a tasty morsel.

We began our meal with an order of scallops and an order of reindeer pate. Suck on that, Rudolph! The pate was rich and venison-like, but a little more magical. Like you’re ingesting Christmas.



For our main courses we had a grilled lamb steak and the aforementioned cod chins. I can’t think of any way to describe the lamb other than pure. The sheep in Iceland are released into the mountains in the spring to graze on the grass freely. In the autumn, they are herded back, and there are usually festivals accompanying this event. So I hear. Anyhoo, the sheep are totally grass-fed, and I believe the use of hormones is prohibited. The difference in taste is remarkable.



The cod chins were actually the bottom parts of the jaws, cheeks included, I believe. Parts were a bit chewy-- perhaps the connective tissues? The chins themselves had a similar texture to scallops. They were prepared in a rich, creamy sauce. It became a bit overpowering at times, but we couldn't... stop... eating. The chins were bite-sized, whereas Mr. Campbell's chin could feed a small army (of darkness). His chin wouldn't be nearly as tender.



We were stuffed afterwards, but we had to try the skyr brulee, made with the traditional Icelandic yogurt-like cheese, skyr. I failed to take a picture because I was too busy devouring the entire thing. It was so light and almost mousse-like, but topped with the same wonderful caramelized sugar as creme brulee.

This was one of our few deviations from Icelandic fast food, and it was worth every krona. Q was a little sad that our meal was over. Chin up!