Culinary prowess aside, Iceland is a pretty spectacular country to visit.

I’ve been doing a bit of globe-trotting recently and thought that I would mention a few of the culinary highlights and lowlights here on Besotted.

I recently went to Iceland for a long weekend, and, while my expectations for the trip itself were high, my expectations for the cuisine were fairly moderate. Imagine my surprise to find that Reykjavik’s tiny town-center boasts a string of noteworthy restaurants that masterfully capitalize on the local fare.

I am forever preaching the importance of eating locally, seasonally, and according to a region’s or restaurant’s best ability – it is probably the most no-fail prescription for good eating. However, this directive is a bit more difficult to oblige when you find yourself in a strange land and facing the choice of eating an American hamburger (at a restaurant called American Style, no less) or deciphering a menu filled with local flavors and questionable translations, as I did in Iceland.

Don't worry, he wasn't on the menu... he was just too cute not to post.

In nearly every situation, I would recommend doing whatever it is that will make you most comfortable with the more adventurous option and dive into the local cuisine. The worst outcome (apart from death, I suppose) is that you will have wasted a bit of money on food that you can’t stomach and will mollify your taste buds with an outsized dessert. The best outcome, is what I experienced in Reykjavik.

Now, it doesn’t take a genius to presuppose that Reykjavik would have some outstanding fish and seafood. It’s located on Iceland’s West coast and has fishing ports visible from the center of town. But, I am from the North Shore of Massachusetts, and consider myself fairly well-acquainted with superior seafood, yet even I was shocked and delighted at the quality of fish we ate. Imagine eating smoked salmon and describing it as silky, flounder that doesn’t require chewing, but merely crushing your tongue against the top of your mouth, like you might do to a blackberry in August, sea scallops that burst forth with sweetness and nearly fall apart in your mouth.

The quality of seafood was incomparable, but the delight in discovering whale meat – prepared in an updated tataki-style with foie gras on a bed of seaweed mesclun salad – beat all. The whale meat tasted and felt like a richer fatty tuna – it was very much like shopping at Nordstrom’s all your life, and then discovering Barney’s – the experience was more indulgent, sweeter, and more remarkable. Aided by the exceptional grilled foie gras atop the mound of succulent meat, the plate left an indelible mark on not only the trip to Reykjavik, but the running diary of best meals in my mind.

Whale Meat Tataki-Style in a Seaweed Mesclun Salad with Foie Gras

The whale meat was part of an 8-course tasting menu at Fishmarket in downtown Reykjavik that we splurged on the first night of our trip. We were so enamored of the cuisine and the restaurant itself, that we decided to return on the last night of our trip, to keep the taste of Icelandic fare fresh in our minds and mouths when we returned to Boston.