Xan: Iceland and England (Part 6): Hot diggity dogs!

How did we get to post #6 without talking about the hot dogs?

Behold Baejarins Beztu Pylsur, the most popular "restaurant" in Iceland:

Apparently the majority of Icelanders have eaten at this little hot dog stand.  A majority.  That is insane.  Also, Bill Clinton.  And tons of other famous people, but mostly people just talk about Bill Clinton.  I think because he went there and ordered one with just mustard. How boring and unadventurous!  The toppings are a big part of what makes Icelandic hot dogs different!  And even his attempted unadventurousness was a failure since Icelandic mustard is not normal mustard (it's brown, for one thing).

But seriously, if you're going to have just one ingredient, let it be the fried onions!  That's what Catherine did.

Left: one with everything.  Right: just fried onions.

Baejarins Beztu Pylsur means "best hot dogs in town."  This is modest.  According to many people these are the best hot dogs in the world, possibly even the best in the universe. The universe I say!

I'm afraid the picture is not going to prove much to you.  Clearly you will need to visit Iceland and try these for yourself.  The hot dog itself is made from a mixture of lamb, beef and pork, but the best and most noticeable thing about it is the "snappy" casing, which gives it a satisfying bite.  Many of the toppings are also novel: order one with everything, and you will get onions, fried onions, ketchup, Icelandic mustard, and remoulade.  Fried onions, of course, make everything more delicious.  I'm just going to keep repeating that, even though it's so obvious.

I got a hot dog every time I was in the vicinity.  Seeing as Baejarins Beztu is right in the middle of town, that added up to 4 or 5 hot dogs over the course of the week (but who's counting?).  Hey, at $3, that's some of the cheapest food in the country.

Not far from the Baejarins Beztu is Icelandic Fish & Chips.  I recommend this place, not too expensive and quite good.  I got the ling with mango "skyronnaise" (mayonnaise made from skyr):

It turns out that "chips" can mean just about any fried potato product, depending on the country.  These chips made a nice accompaniment, although I could swear they disappeared at a much faster rate than I personally was eating them.  Sigh.

I hear Kathleen is in Reykjavik right now so I'm just going to post this before it's too late!