FInally tried the local speciality - Meat Soup

It was yet another cold rainy day and a bowl of soup was just what the Traveling Hillbilly needed.  Now I’m not a big soup eater, but it is the local specialty so I decided it was time to try the meat soup I’d been hearing so much about.  I headed back to Laugavegur to this little steakhouse I’d passed by the other day.   What better place to try meat soup than a steakhouse?  

It was a small little restaurant just downstairs off the street, called Gamla Vinhusid Steakhouse.    I was glad to discover it was actually open since it was past lunch time and too early yet for dinner.    The placed looked exactly what I had expected, small, cozy and warm.    There were only a couple of other diners there besides me.   The waiter/bartender was a friendly gent.  I ordered the meat soup, some cheesy garlic bread and an ice cold beer from the tap.    And a warm apple cake for dessert.

Basically the meat soup is like a vegetable stew, made with lamb meat.    Perfect food for cold wet weather.  I can see why it’s so popular, especially washed down with a good beer.   Then it was time for the dessert.   The warm apple cake, looked delicious, it had little chunks of caramelized apples in the center and came with a scoop of ice cream and whip cream on the side, both drizzled with caramel.   The cake was a little overcooked but was still pretty good.  The ice cream however was magnificent.   I’m not sure what it was, maybe the overall experience, but it was probably the best ice cream I’ve had.  I don’t know this for sure, but given how healthy they seem to be in Iceland, I bet it was made from all natural ingredients.   I had bought more than one food item at the grocery mart that I actually knew what all the ingredients were, things like flour, sugar, vanilla.      All in all, a great way to end the meal.