I don’t recommend Mink Whale
I have one last revolting foodie moment from my stay in Iceland, which I’d like to share with my foodie friends. I visited a small fish shack called the Seabaron to experience some authentic Icelandic food. I had heard of this place before I went and was told I would be getting a real food experience – not a polished, fluffed up touristy version of Icelandic food, but a real of-the-people kind of place. I could not resist and had to check it out, it was a must try on my foodie list. The lobster soup was recommended, which is like a bisque and the lobster (which is pervasive on every menu in Iceland) is really more like a langoustine than what we would recognize as lobster in North America.
We were a trio who went to check out this foodie-find, we were all excited to experience authentic traditional food of Iceland since thus far 
we had the typical, fine-dining pseudo international cuisine characterized by most touristy restaurants. In our travels we had heard of a number of unusual food items that are consumed in Iceland including puffin, cormorant, putrified shark, burnt sheep face and whale. Being with fellow foodies, our curiosity was piqued and we just had to experience something of this strange food culture. The others were ahead of me and I met them there, they had ordered the lobster soup with a side mink whale kabob to share – which at the time I had considered an excellent choice.
As we waited an extremely long time for a bowl of soup and a kabob, an overwhelming smell began to engulf the whole cramped little shack. By the time our food arrived we were absolutely famished and it became revoltingly clear that the pervasive and gut wrenching smell that was perfuming the air was emanating from our whale kabob! It was necessary to plug my nose in order to sample the whale. It did not taste good or even OK, but it didn’t taste half as bad as it smelled. It looked like beef tenderloin, and had a very livery kind of taste, and the smell was just indescribable – I could smell it for days afterward even though we each only had a small bite and the rest sadly went into the trash bin. As a matter of fact, yesterday I ran into one of my fellow travellers and she had me smell her jacket because she was convinced the smell had permeated the leather.
That rounds up my long weekend in Iceland. Hope you enjoyed the culture food experience. Back to Canadiana until my next venture forth.
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Was the smell because of the way it’s cooked, or is the flesh just naturally smelly? Kudos for the attempt.
I heard it was because of the way that it was cooked but I can’t say for sure since it’s the only time I’ve had it. Someone else there told me that she makes carpaccio from it and it’s delicious.