On the second evening in Reykjavik, we prepared to dine at Apotek, a restaurant that ranks second in the entire city for Icelandic cuisine.

👩‍🍳 Apotek's menu offers three options: a traditional Icelandic tasting menu, a regular tasting menu, and an à la carte menu.

🇮🇸 My friend and I deliberated for a while and ultimately chose the traditional Icelandic tasting menu, summoning the courage to dive into the unknown world of Icelandic cuisine.

🥃 To start, they served each of us a glass of Icelandic specialty, Brennivín, with a faint hint of fennel flavour.

🐑 Raw lamb (Tartar-style lamb) Who would have thought that this would be the standout dish among the cold starters? The raw lamb had no hint of gaminess, and its texture was pleasantly chewy and tender, perfectly seasoned.

🐦 Puffin with berry sauce and goat cheese Initially, I hesitated because I didn't want to eat puffin – they're too cute! But since we were there, we decided to give it a try, and I have to say, I regret it deeply.

🎃 The semi-dried puffin breast had an intensely gamey flavour, accompanied by a pungent goat cheese and sweet-tart berry sauce. From doubting the mental state of Icelanders at the outset to questioning my own mental state, it was quite the culinary journey.

🐟 Arctic char This tasted very much like salmon, but to emphasize its premium status, it was presented on a Himalayan salt block. However, the presence of apple slices caused the juice to dissolve the salt, resulting in an overwhelmingly salty experience.

🐋 Whale meat Having read in novels how delicious whale meat is, I was mildly excited. However, it turned out to be whale sashimi, and no amount of vinaigrette shallot and fried Jerusalem artichoke masked its bloody taste. Moreover, the meat had many sinews in its texture, making it nearly impossible to cut with a knife, as if I were eating a piece of raw, sinewy demon meat.

🐠 Thankfully, the subsequent dishes were more conventional. Halibut with sour cream mashed potatoes, ling cod with celeriac, and lamb shank, all European-style dishes, were delicious. The presentation and seasoning were exquisite.

🍰 Desserts Their petite cakes were elegantly arranged in a row and looked stunning. One of them appeared rather ordinary, so I thought, "Any dessert will do, as long as it's not this plain one."

🌋 Guess what? The dessert included in the set menu was precisely the plain one, accompanied by a passion fruit sauce that made your eyes water, a blackcurrant sauce that made you pucker, and vanilla whipped cream with berry sorbet.

🍽️ In conclusion: You only need to try traditional Icelandic cuisine once in a lifetime.