Iceland’s Friðheimar restaurant serves up enlightenment by the bowls.
In a gigantic glasshouse crawling with twisty - turny vine of near - bursting tomatoes lies Friðheimar eatery , a seed - to - soup wonderland located in Reykholt , Iceland , about an hour east of Reykjavík . When node go far at Friðheimar and take in the chaotic row of vines , their vigor is palpable . There ’s excited chattering , unsubtle smiles , and glasses raised with tomato - fueled toast . It ’s a special energy , born of impassioned commitment to a singular vision . This permaculture paradise aims to assure the story of Icelandic foodways and environmental responsibleness in one , seemingly square knockout : all - you - can - eat tomato soup .
In fact , most things at Friðheimar are pretty mere , if you ask chef Jón Sigfússon . That ’s his culinary vision and quest .
“ It has to be something really , really in effect — and dim-witted . Verysimple , ” he says . “ I want to use as few ingredients [ as potential ] in the stuff and nonsense that I do . ”
Friðheimar Tomato Soup|Photo by Paige Deasley
In 2012 , Sigfússon ’s cultism to simplicity brought his neighbor , Knútur Rafn Ármann , to his kitchen door . Ármann and his wife , Helena , had developed their plowland into a double - determination juggernaut of horse show and horticulture . tourer who had number to see their Equus caballus show began to ask if they could get a peep inside the tomato greenhouses . The asking became so pop that they establish tours .
finally , the hubby - and - wife squad decide to work with their neighbor to make a one - of - a - form solid food experience . “ Our ambition was that you ’d be doing something you ’d never done before , ” says Ármann .
There was one caveat , though . The menu had to be beautiful , simple , and made fromtomatoes .
Friðheimar restaurant in Reykholt, Iceland|Photo by Paige Deasley
Luckily , Sigfússon had created precisely this sort of dish antenna two year prior , as a fortieth natal day gift to Ármann . And so , Ármann intimate they serve that ethereal natal day soup as the signature mantrap in their forthcomingrestaurant .
At the clip , Sigfússon was set for retirement after more than 25 year in professional kitchen , including lead his own eating house inReykjavík , Matur og Menning , which translates to “ solid food and civilisation . ” However , he could n’t resist the chance to knead with his friends and dear tomato plant , and so , in 2014 , Friðheimar begin to welcome guests year - round .
Now , Friðheimar is a decimal point of pilgrimage for anyone interested in foodways , Icelandic founding , and the environment . Sigfússon and Ármann need to provide an excellent meal , of course , but they also want to share their imagination of simplicity and sustainability with the human beings .
Onsite greenhouse at Friðheimar|Photo by Paige Deasley
“ We teach everybody to tell the taradiddle , ” Ármann allege , “ because it ’s all of our floor for the telling . All the guests … [learn ] about what is extra about Icelandic tomato … and then the intellectual nourishment tastes a fiddling moment unlike . ”
On any given day , the Friðheimar tale oftomatoesmight be told in five or more linguistic process .
“ The name of our land , Iceland , does n’t give any cue that we ’d be grow many matter , ” Ármann say . “ So , it surprises [ visitant ] that we can be picking tomato , cucumber , boodle , sweet peppers , and strawberries all year around … because they know we have prospicient , dark , and cold-blooded winters . ”
Friðheimar Tomato Soup and Fresh Mussels in Tomato Seafood Sauce|Photo by Paige Deasley
That yearlong cool or cold climate maintain most garden pests aside , Ármann read . Iceland also has glacial spring water supply and sinewy geothermal activity underfoot due to the island ’s post over two of the Earth ’s architectonic plates .
In 2018 , BBC Earth Lab film a section in Iceland that explored how all the country ’s power come from clear , renewable sources : 25 % from geothermic activeness and 75 % from hydropower . Friðheimar was sport for its unique use of these natural resources .
“ We tell the account of how we can do it with good assistance from nature , ” allege Ármann . “ We are using the hot water in the ground to hot up up our greenhouses [ and ] we are using the electrical energy to make sun or light for the plants every day of the year . ”
He and Helena now operate on ten greenhouses encompass 36,000 straight feet of grow quad . Friðheimar produces two net ton of tomato every day , and 700 tons of tomatoes per year .
Since its 2014 launch , Friðheimar has aimed to introduce one or two new fare detail annually . Now , in addition to the theme song Lycopersicon esculentum soup , guests can sip a Healthy Mary , a sparkling digestif philosophers' stone of green tomato juice , honey , ginger , and lemon . They can also sample dreary mussels in a tomato seafood bath , ravioli , green tomato apple Proto-Indo European , and homemade tomato ice emollient .
The soup , however , remains the main attractor . It coat your spoon with comforting viscousness , and gleams with pure tomato savor . It ’s served in big cauldron alongside sour cream , fresh cucumber salsa , and cumulus of rustic loaves ofbreadcrusted with seminal fluid or generously festoon with olives and high mallow .
“ I do n’t like the bread to be like in the bakery , all in the same shape , ” say Sigfússon . “ So , I need them to look devoid flowing . The more different they are , the more fun it is . ”
make bountiful kale to sop up spirit - changing soup ca n’t have been loose , and yet Sigfússon claims he did n’t confront a great trade of trials along the way .
“ Not really , ” he say . “ That is also very uncomplicated . It all happen in my headway ; I can conceive ‘ taste . ’ I can see ‘ penchant . ’ I can see if you have tomatoes and you want to bestow something to it—‘no , that ’s not working’—so I try something different . I can do this in my creative thinker and dally with it . ”
This playfulness inspired Friðheimar ’s tomato beer , the 2d most popular menu item . Sigfússon collaborate with a brewmaster Quaker in Reykjavík to train six love apple beer , and then Friðheimar ’s staff helped select the two serve at the bar : one red and one green .
If you ’re inhale totake a few Instagram snapswhile you ’re sip tomato beer or slurp surpassing soup , Sigfússon and Ármann certainly do n’t mind . It helps them open their visual sense .
“ I always say in the kitchen , if I do n’t see the people picking up their phone and hire pictures of this , you ’re not doing trade good , ” Sigfússon says .
Ármann agrees . “ Our aspiration is that you take your phone and take a picture and then you spread it around the human race . ”
It ’s that simple , really .
