meemalee

So I went to Iceland. And despite my misgivings (mainly concerning the ash-cloud ) I really, truly loved it. One of the things I loved was their attitude to food which is totally in keeping with my own philosophy - if it moves, we can eat it and, what's more, we should eat every last bit of it. With this in mind, I'd done my research and discovered that a particular Icelandic speciality is svið . Svið, dear reader, is singed sheep's face or head. Traditionally, a whole sheep's head is singed to burn off all the hairs, boiled, de-brained ( thank God ), and then sliced in half before being served. You're drooling at the thought, aren't you? Apart from at Þorrablót , the mid-winter festival, the only place in Reykjavik to serve this traditional beauty is a cafe called Fljótt og Gott , which is set within the BSI Bus Terminal on the outskirts of town, and is ruddy difficult to get to by foot, but worth nearly getting run over for. So it was the third day of our tr...

Late last year, in a vague effort to impress my husband’s work colleagues we introduced them to Archipelago in Bloomsbury, officially one of the most fun places to eat . According to TopTable , “If Archipelago were a film, it would definitely be one of the Indiana Jones series” and it’s a fair assessment. The exotic interior (© Archipelago) From the moment we walked in, our feet crunching on the (indoor) gravel doormat, we knew this would be interesting. The décor is an eccentric mix of golden Buddhas, giant peacock feathers, palm trees and Greek statuary, and the crockery and cutlery are equally mismatched. Moreover, everything in the restaurant is for sale, from Hindu gods to African drums. Last time we went, I picked up a rather nice Burmese lacquerware pot in an old Bagan style. Even the menu (which came on a beautiful scroll of parchment) features alarming dishes such as “Gigolo’s Packet” and “Mouse in the House” and ingredients such as scorpions, frogs, and 24 carat gold. Scor...