Beautiful Goan Cuisine

In my opinion, Indian restaurants should be on every street. As cities like London and Glasgow prove, you can never have too many of them. Here in Reykjavík we only had two - the very fancy and expensive Austur Indía Fjelagið on Hverfisgata and the cheap and cheerful, albeit Pakistani, Shalimar on Austurstræti. It was therefore with anticipation that I entered newly opened Indian Mango situated on the charming street, Frakkastígur. Located on the ground floor, its decorated in a non-fussy manner, consisting of ochre walls and straw chairs and tables, a tiled floor and mellow lighting. The service was a little chaotic at first, due to the large crowd of people that had turned up on a normally quieter Tuesday night.

It seems that Indian Mango has rapidly gained popularity with locals, who included well-known faces from the Icelandic entertainment scene, and on receiving my first course I began to understand why. I had ordered a crispy poppadum pancake filled with delicately spiced lentils, to be dipped in a sweet dipping sauce. It was refined and tangy and without any greasiness. To accompany it I enjoyed an absolutely delicious mango lassi, a drink that was so rich and satisfying with its slight hint of honey that it felt like something I should be having for breakfast.

For my main course I had ordered a chicken jalfrezi, a dish which has remained a perennial favourite at my favourite Indian haunts in London. Here it was cooked to perfection, the chicken tender and cooked with soft onions and capsicum. On the side was a beautifully green combination of cooked celery and peppers in a tangy curry sauce. My companion enjoyed Chicken Xacuti, a delicate mixture of flavours including coconut, lime, aniseed and cinnamon.

All dishes were eye-catchingly beautiful to look at with their gorgeous combinations of yellows, reds and greens. George Holmes, manager and creator of Indian Mango, who has a Four Seasons background, explains that the idea behind the restaurant was to recreate Goan cuisine. Goan food is quite unique in India and uses low-fat, high protein ingredients. Which also means that you wont find bucketloads of sugar or ghee in the cooking, only plenty of fresh ingredients. Desserts were a real surprise and included green lentil pancakes, sweetened with honey and spiced with cloves, cardamom and cinnamon, and the mango kulfi (ice cream) made from award-winning Alphonso mangoes was obviously to die for.

To round off a perfect meal I was served a cup of milky Indian tea infused with cardamom and spices. Although Indian Mango is definitely not one of those designer trendy places that are popping up all over town, it was definitely one of the most original and enjoyable dining experiences that I have enjoyed in months.

Reviewed by Anna Margrét Björnsson



Indian Mango

Frakkastígur 12

551 7722

www.indianmango.is