Dill (restaurant)

Dill is a New Nordic restaurant in Reykjavík, the first restaurant in Iceland to be awarded a Michelin star, in 2017.

Dill
Restaurant information
Established	2009 (2009)
Owner(s)	Gunnar Karl Gíslason
Head chef	Gunnar Karl Gíslason
Food type	New Nordic
Street address	Laugavegur 59
City	Reykjavík
Country	Iceland
Coordinates	64°08′49.4″N 21°55′58.6″W

History

A dish at the restaurant

Dill opened in 2009, shortly after the economic crash of 2008. Investors pulled out and chef Chef Gunnar Karl Gíslason, for whom it was the first independent venture, made up the shortfall using his credit cards.[1] It was located in the Nordic House in Reykjavík, a modernist building designed by the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto, and was named for the herb dill, which plays a major role in Scandinavian cuisine.[2] Gunnar Karl was one of the first proponents of New Nordic cuisine in Iceland;[1] he gathered herbs and vegetables both in a kitchen garden and in a greenhouse, and although the restaurant is not vegetarian, focussed his dishes on them rather than on meat or fish, which he did not always include.[2] He sourced barley from Eymundur Magnússon, a farmer who runs a company called Módir Jörð (Mother Earth) with his wife, and blue mussels from Simon Sturluson, a fisherman in Stykkishólmur who credits him with creating the restaurant market for them.[1] The restaurant also makes extensive use of smoked and dried ingredients.[3] In 2016 a restaurant review highlighted the dried puffin and trout smoked in the traditional Icelandic manner over straw impregnated with sheep excreta.[4]

The restaurant moved in 2015 to the centre of Reykjavík, where in 2016 a reporter for the Boston Globe described it as "evoking a fisherman's cottage retrofitted in a medieval church", with natural stone walls, a ceiling of wooden slats, and low lighting.[3]

In late 2015 Gunnar Karl Gíslason left the restaurant to take up a job in New York; he was succeeded as head chef by Ragnar Eiríksson[5] and as manager by Ólafur Ágústsson. He remains a co-owner with Kristinn Vilbergsson; the partnership also owns another restaurant in the building and KEX Hostel.[6]

Awards

Dill has been named best restaurant in Iceland by White Guide Nordic and the Nordic Prize.[5][6][7] At its new location, the interior designed by Hálfdán Pedersen was nominated for the 2015 Restaurant & Bar Design Awards.[6][8] In February 2017 it was awarded the first Michelin star given to an Icelandic restaurant;[5][6][7] it lost the star in February 2019.[9] Dill reclaimed its Michelin star in February 2020[10].

References

1. Jody Eddy, "The Chef Who Rescued Iceland", Food Arts, January/February 2014.
2. Laufey Haraldsdóttir and Guðrún Þóra Gunnarsdóttir, "Pure, Fresh and Simple: 'Spicing up' the New Nordic Cuisine", in Spices and Tourism: Destinations, Attractions and Cuisines, ed. Lee Jolliffe, Tourism and cultural change 38, Bristol: Channel View, 2014, ISBN 9781845414429, pp. 169–82, pp. 174–79; also at academia.edu, registration required.
3. Liza Weisstuch, "‘New Nordic cuisine’ balances past and present", Boston Globe, 12 January 2016.
4. Lars Roest-Madsen, "This Chef Is Using Shit-Smoked Trout and Dried Puffin to Revolutionize the Kitchen", Munchies, Vice, 19 September 2016.
5. "Dill in downtown Reykjavík receives first Michelin star awarded to an Icelandic restaurant", Iceland Magazine (Vísir), 22 February 2017.
6. Anna Margrét Björnsson, "Dill er fyrsta íslenska veitingahúsið til að fá Michelin-stjörnu", Morgunblaðið, 22 February 2017 (in Icelandic).
7. Vala Hafstað, "Icelandic Restaurant Gets Michelin Star", Iceland Review, 22 February 2017.
8. "Dill restaurant nominated for prestigious design awards", Iceland Magazine, 15 July 2015.
9. "Dill lose their Michelin star", Iceland Monitor (Morgunblaðið), 19 February 2019.
10. "MICHELIN Guide 2020: Stars & Awards Announced", 17 February 2020.