WORDS
VICKY LANE, ADRIAN MOURBY
1 0 4
V I E W P O I N T S
01
CaféOdeon
Zürich
|
Brasserie
|
€50
zürich has a reputation
for
blockbusting – or at least pocket-
busting – prices. Thank goodness,
then, for the boho Café Odeon,
which once welcomed James
Joyce, Lenin and Einstein. Today, it’s
a standard international brasserie
with a Swiss twist, where a mixed
clientele eat and drink on old
red-leather bar stools or at tiny
banquettes built into the windows.
Burgers are offered Wiener-style
(
breaded) or Swiss (sandwiched
between
rösti
and a fried egg),
while the veggie Wilhelm Tell salad
includes cheese-filled potato
croquettes. Carpe Diem is a
protein feast of smoked salmon,
chicken skewers, olives, shrimps,
feta and chorizo. Apart from the
menu, very little has changed since
Joyce was writing
Ulysses
.
It’s a
little slice of Swiss history for
very un-Swiss prices.
2
Limmatquai; tel: +41 (0)44 251
1650,
odeon.ch
Lækjarbrekka
Reykjavik
|
Icelandic
|
€60
the old-fashioned décor
of this Icelandic staple might well
trigger memories of your granny’s house, but that’s only
fitting for a restaurant serving dishes as deeply rooted in the
country’s history as its charming 19th-century building.
Those wanting to get a real taste of Iceland are invited to
start their meal with a piece of
hákarl
–
fermented Greenland
shark which has been buried for six months to make it safe to
eat. This comes with a menu warning – ‘if you dare’ – and a
burning shot of Brennivín (Icelandic schnapps) that threatens
to exterminate the taste buds.
This experience over, however, the rest of the menu is far
more appealing, if no less authentic. A wonderfully creamy
langoustine and Cognac soup simply slides down the throat,
while slow-cooked salmon with pickled cucumber and
skyr
(
Icelandic yogurt) dill sauce has a tangy kick. But the
show-stopper is the Mountain and Bay: pan-fried lamb,
so silky that it barely needs chewing, served with buttery
broiled langoustines that have you slyly sliding your finger
across the plate to lap up the juices. If Grandma had dished
up food like this, we’d have visited more often.
2
Bankastræti; tel: +354 551 4430, laekjarbrekka.is
R E S T A U R A N T
R E V I E W S
The fermented shark comes with a warning –
‘
if you dare’ – and a burning shot of schnapps
