Tomato lunch

When you think about Iceland in winter yourarely think about tomatoes. Let’s be honest here for a second.

Well, Knútur Rafn Ármann and his wife Helena Hermundardóttir decided to show us all how wrong we were by opening Friðheimar. There, they grow tomatoes all year long with the help of geothermal energy. Friðheimar wants to offer an environmentally and socially responsible service to its guests and it’s in their sustainable green house that we were welcomed for a delicious lunch.

Sorry for the blur, the camera couldn’t take the tropical heat!

Tomatoes are the guests of honour of Friðheimar cuisine – and that’s not surprising, since three different variety of tomato are cultivated around the tables creating a unique immersive experience.

A whole menu!

My friend and I were welcomed with a delicious Tomato Soupserved on a buffet with sour cream, home baked bread, cucumber salsa, butter and fresh herbs . Once settled, we sampled fresh Ravioli with homemade pasta sauce and pesto and the stone baked Tortilla with tomato, basil and Mozzarella. We added to our order a ‘Healthy Mary’ (a cocktail made from green tomato, lime, honey and ginger, served chilled with sparkling water) and even a tomato beer brewed with fully ripe red tomatoes.

Finally, as we both have something of a sweet tooth, we ended our fantastic lunch with a mouth watering cheesecake with jam of green-tomato, cinnamon and lime and a green-tomato and apple piewith cream.

Friðheimar also gives you the opportunity to walk around the green house and to learn a little about how it all operates.

I believe it’s a very good way to bring reality back to the plate and to make people more aware of what goes into providing the food we eat.

The bees were flying around our tables (as they are also making honey) which, in stark contrast to the Icelandic cold, made the whole experience otherworldly.