We had many great meals in Iceland. The most telling gauge with regards to Icelandic food, however, might have been our bargain meals. It’s probably normal to judge a country’s food by its most outstanding dishes. I would submit, however, that a country with good bargain food might be the best of all.

We had quite a few meals on our own this trip. Often times, we were looking for something light, since we were so full from all the great big meals. Our go-to meal turned out to be soup and bread. Icelanders really make great soup and bread, perhaps due to their long, cold, dark winters. We also had other really good bargain meals where my biggest surprise was “where” we had such good food.

Here is some seafood soup and fresh bread. Delicious. We had soup and bread quite often. One of the best and least expected times was at the national park at Geysir. I had the Mulligatawny soup and Vicky had the Malaysian soup. Both were excellent as was the bread - and at a national park cafeteria. I've never had such good food at one of our US national park cafeterias - if we even have park cafeterias.

We had lunch at our horse farm, a family business. We had pumpkin/coconut soup, fresh bread, salad with dozens of toppings, and horse filet. Horse tasted like tender roast beef. Dessert was rhubarb cake with fresh whipped cream.

On the last night of our Iceland trip, we ended up eating in the Reykjavik Botanic Gardens, at Cafe Flora. We were inside a greenhouse, with grapes growing above us (we ate some), fish swimming near us, kids playing, and a fat red cat checking us out. The staff was friendly and diligent. Vicky had the Teriyaki Chicken salad (below) and a Brio beer.

My dinner at the botanic gardens was pulled pork on some sourdough bread with salad and an Einstok beer. The food and beer were great, the staff friendly, and a great relaxing place to eat. Who would expect such a great meal with such great service in a public botanic garden cafe.

I am including this because so many people asked me, "What crazy thing did you eat this trip?" This is Hakarl, which is putrefied Greenland shark. These sharks can live 400 years and have anti-freeze in them. A person would die eating it directly. But they bury it for months, then dig it up and hang it for four more months, and then its edible. There are no additives, it is just cured. It tasted a bit fishy to me with a mild ammonia chaser or aftertaste. I've eaten worse foods.