Showing posts with label iceland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label iceland. Show all posts

Thursday, March 16, 2017

Get a Taste of Iceland in Boston

For the past couple of years, Iceland Naturally has brought Icelandic culture to Boston with Taste of Iceland. This year, Taste of Iceland is coming back to Boston from March 16-20. The five-day festival brings Nordic cuisine, music, art, film, and literature.

The main draw for me, of course, is the food and drinks. This year, they are bringing in Chef Sigurdur Helgason (a.k.a. Siggi Helga) of  GrilliĆ° restaurant to create a four-course Icelandic menu at The Merchant (not to be confused with the MIT mathematician Sigurdur Helgason - not that most of you would). GrilliĆ° is located in the Radisson Blu Saga Hotel. This hotel is actually owned by the Icelandic Farmers Association and is also known as Farmers Palace. As you can imagine, the farm-to-table vision is very much alive and well at a place like this.

Siggi also represented Iceland in Bocuse d'Or in 2015. Here, he brought many of the Icelandic ingredients for the 4-day stint in Boston. The first course is a "taste of Icelandic nature", composed of three different bites.

The first: Langoustine with black garlic-herb garden
Taste of Iceland
I look forward to a bite of langoustine each year for the Taste of Iceland event. If you've never had Icelandic langoustine, what are you waiting for?

Second: Forest mushroom in volcanic croquettes
Taste of Iceland
These bites are not only inspired by the flavors in Iceland, but also the landscapes.

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

WOW Air Flight Review: Boston - Reykjavik - Paris

So I recently took WOW Air, the budget airline from Iceland. They currently fly to New York, Boston, and Baltimore (and soon adding Toronto) to Europe via Iceland. They have sales with prices that will make you go "Wow!" including $99 one way to Paris, which is the one I bought.

It's not exactly $99 each way, though. I did get $99 from Boston to Paris, but the return flight is slightly more expensive. Still, on select dates they're still pretty cheap and I ended up paying $309 for a round trip flight from Boston to Paris. Not bad at all!

As with other budget airlines, there are a lot of caveats. First, you only get 1 carry on bag free, up to 5 kg (11 lbs). I was only going to Paris for 3 nights, so I actually managed to carry everything with me.
They don't provide drinks or food on board, you have to buy whatever you need, including water. They cost about the same as water at the airport, so whatever. It's still a $300 ticket to Paris, I'm not complaining.
Wow Air
I think because they're a newer and a budget airline, they usually taxi to a spot not directly connected to the airport buildings. Passengers had to take a shuttle bus from airport to the plane at all three airports I flew into. Just keep that in mind when you pack, because you have to be outside for a brief moment, but Iceland can be cold and raining or snowing. Pretty much all three happened to me.

I like the cheeky touches of WOW Air. The plane itself looks like a character out of Pixar's movie, with a grin on its face, wearing an aviator.

So how's the flight itself? Well, on the first leg from Boston to Reykjavik, I got really lucky! Window exit row seat, baby.

Wow Air
Best seat in the house

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Blue Lagoon and Lunch at LAVA Restaurant in Iceland

While in Reykjavik, Blue Lagoon is a must visit. This vast and popular hot springs is easily accessible with the various bus trips that originate from either Keflavik airport or Reykjavik city.

Blue Lagoon
I booked with Reykjavik Excursions which seems to have one of the more reasonable prices. I went with the tour that includes prepaid admission so we don't have to wait in line to buy a ticket. We still had to wait a bit, but not as long as the others. Also, when you get there, don't get confused with the line in the first small building - that's for people who want to store their luggage! Instead, keep going on the path heading towards the main building.
LAVA Restaurant

Friday, March 13, 2015

Taste of Iceland Kicks Off at Boston's Tavern Road

Iceland has really, really good food. Don't believe me? Head over to Tavern Road this weekend for Iceland Naturally's Taste of Iceland. Starting tonight (March 13) to March 16, you can try a four-course menu featuring Icelandic ingredients created by Chef Viktor Orn Andresson from Blue Lagoon's LAVA Restaurant and Chef Louis DiBiccari from Tavern Road.

At these dinners, you'll be treated to ingredients flown especially from Iceland, including one of the best (perhaps the best) arctic char you've ever tried - lemon-cured and served with roe, cauliflower, horseradish, and dill.

Taste of Iceland
You'll also try some Icelandic cod and langoustine. I fell in love with their langoustines when I was in Iceland, and tried to eat it every single day!

Even their lamb is more tender than usual. Obviously, it's free range lamb (Iceland only has 320,000 people, there's plenty of space for sheep). You'll get a roasted rack of lamb flavored with Icelandic herbs. Shown below is just the portion for the media preview, not the full size dinner portion.
Taste of Iceland

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