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Don't think just eat Oopsie! It is real funky y'all. I think that's the best way to describe it. That's a wild ride, man. Yeah, it's like a the best parts of nasty musty old basement. Good morning. Adventures. Morning. We are still in the Faroe Islands. We are not done with these islands yet. How incredible is it here, you guys?
We're in a neighborhood, and these are the views they have rolling hills, sheep. There's even a little, like stream that goes out to the ocean. It's beautiful. If you've been following along, you know that these islands are just stunning. Every single island has these huge cliffs that tower over the ocean. The waves crash on them. So many sheep. The sheep actually outnumber the people. I think it's 80,000 to 50,000. These islands also have their own unique culture, their own way of life.
They have their own language. Faroese. They also have Faroese cuisine, which is kind of the focus of this video. While they have some, I guess, normal dishes, they also have some very unique, very Faroese dishes with an emphasis on fermentation, because they are out here in the middle of nowhere and they have to make stuff last. So last it will be by hanging it out in sheds for months at a time, and it has its own unique style and flavor, and we are going to try that style and flavor today. Yeah, we're going all in. We're going to try it all, baby.
Are you ready to try some possibly slightly strange but hopefully delicious local food. Ready. Let's go. Oh, we're starting this food adventure with a very safe and known food. We're going to the island of esturoy to slow show. Sjógæti Fish and chips, but first I'm going to butcher a bunch of words here. They seem to have their own way of doing it up here, and it gets highly rated. So we are very excited to see what fisk and kips are all about.
Ooh, baby. Our fish and chips have arrived. Whoa! They are way more golden than other fish and chips, I mean, they're beautiful. This place is crazy unassuming. You have to drive, like, a kilometer through this tiny little town on these narrow road. Inside, it is very sterile looking. But sure enough, if you order the fish and chips, she's got him pre breaded it down there.
She pops him into the fryer, waits till they turn golden brown and delicious. And then she puts I guess some of their special seasoning on it. It's their secret seasoning. Yeah. And they serve it up with some fries and voila. Yes. And so we got both the large and the small portion. I feel like this is a maybe a better portion for one person, but we're going all in. It is Haddock that is caught right here.
The French fries however are from France, so they're real as well. Another thing that sets them apart is the only thing they give you to eat with them. Is this Remoulade, Ramoulade I never know how to pronounce it. Flittig Smag med grove Og sprode gronstagger So now you know. Oh, right off the bat. Crispy, crunchy. So this must be breaded in some, like cornmeal or something. It's a really thick, hearty breading on there.
The seasoning, whatever she put on there is nice and salty. It's got a lot of flavor in there I think a lot of paprika. But the fish as you can see it's really thick, very flaky. And it goes so nice with the crispy deep fried crunch. Oh I got a lot of hair now. It's pretty dang windy out here. One room I thought the hat would help but it doesn't. Well on the plus side this is a pretty fantastic backdrop, Look at this. It's wild. People just live here, They just spend their days looking at this. I could do that.
Well, we decided to make a little local food stop. And I think we picked the absolute perfect place up. It's called Fiskastykkid This restaurant specializes in a dish called bacalao. It is a salted cod that is hung up and dried for a very long time. But they serve it in soup form, which I'm a little more excited about. Dried fish isn't necessarily our favorite thing, but I think it's soup. It's going to be absolutely delicious. But this is, kind of the local spirit.
It's actually a spirit you're gonna find all over Scandinavia. It's called aquavit. When you go to weddings, apparently, there's a guy who walks around sometimes with a sheep's horn and just serves people shout out to this over and over til everyone is very, very drunk. You might know this by a different name aquavit, which means water of life. So this is a distilled spirit. I'm not sure what they distill it from, but I think there's usually caraway in there. That's kind of the main ingredient, since it seems a little strange.
So that'll put some hair on your chest. Which is good because I don't have any. It is very strong, very fragrant, a little bit citrusy, has a bit of a bite to it, but, pretty delicious. It just needs a mixer. But I wanted to try it straight. It's definitely reminiscent of gin. I'd say it's kind of peppery, you know, I don't know if I can pick the caraway out specifically, but it should be in there. Oh, yeah. Tastes like if you mix rubbing alcohol, gin and toothpaste together. Toothpaste? I didn't get the toothpaste. The last wedding I went to, I got served moonshine when I arrived.
I like that a little bit better than this, but this will definitely do the trick. It'll. It'll turn it into a party real fast. It's going to put hair on your chest. Oh, God. Here we have the akara fiscus suppa, which translates to our fish soup. So in it you're going to have the back allow which is that salted cod, some leeks, herbs and then croutons on the top. And we were told this oil is an herby oil on top. And they serve it with the most beautiful looking bread I've ever seen in salted butter.
Salted butter. Man, there's something to it. I think this is some kind of focaccia, and it looks like it has little salt flakes on top, too. All right. It's thinner than I thought it was going to be. Let's get some of the goodies at the bottom. There we go. Not so many peas. Oh, come on, get out of here. Whoa. Well? That is amazing. I don't know if there's another word for it. It's so much better than I ever thought it was going to be.
It's so creamy and buttery and garlicky, and the fish is actually super tender in there. I would have thought it was fresh fish. I would never have known that. This is like has been sitting out in a barn forever. I'm going to say I even don't mind the peas. They're like perfect little capsules and they just like explode in your mouth when you chew on them. I'm a big fan. I was not expecting to like this at all and I love it. Well, I gave it a taste and confirmed it's probably one of the most delicious soups I've ever had.
It kind of reminiscent of maybe a clam chowder or something. So buttery, so delicious. It's so buttery. I do not want to know how many calories are in this. I just want to know that we're going to do a hike later, and I'm going to burn it all off, right? And we have the perfect accompaniment. Cheers. Because I don't know the Faroese word for cheers. The building in this area has been in use since 1912, and they have all these pictures around the restaurant of locals just drying fish.
They have all this stuff set up on the shores. They have all these stock rooms full of fish where they're working on, and it is pretty nuts. But some of them, you might not want to look into their eyes because they will possess you. It's pretty creepy looking. We're suck your soul into the photo. My gosh, hmm. One thing we've seen on the menus and almost everywhere we've gone our waffles here. And so we ordered them. So there's these adorable little heart shaped waffles. And then this is rhubarb cream on the side, which rhubarb we found out grows very well here on the island. And it grows in large quantities because the sheep don't like it and they don't eat it.
So they use rhubarb and they make a lot of like jams and pies and sauces out of it. I'm very excited for this. Look how cute. This is. Good. Healthy, helping. There you go. Man, rhubarb really is its own flavor. It's like a an earthy whipped cream or something like that. It's not a common thing in the States to have rhubarb. So head to your local grocery store, get some rhubarb. And you know, we're talking about the waffles have like cardamom in there may be the rhubarb cream.
Delicious. This may add a whole like flavor on its own. One of the most important parts of Faroese cuisine is the process of fermentation. And that means they take big old chunks of sheep meat and they just hanging out and let it cure in the salty Faroese air. And it just gives it a very distinct, apparently pungent flavor, which I cannot wait to experience. But this is something we obviously have to try. And to do that, we came to Raest, I think is how you say it.
Can you guess what that means? It means fermented in Faroese. So they are all about the fermentation process here. The chef who started this restaurant is actually from Mexico, so he actually blends Mexican cuisine with Faroese cuisine into kind of a fusion. It sounds a little weird, but I can assure you it should be very, very authentic. This restaurant is definitely a fine dining experience. That's the fancy duds for me. It's actually in this little complex with some other Michelin starred restaurants, so make sure you book in advance. It's also a little pricey, but I think it's going to definitely be worth it.
I think it's going to be very authentic, and maybe one of the most memorable things we'll do on this island. All right, lead the way. Your fermented food awaits. Ooh, I like this chair. I feel like I'm a Viking sitting down to a feast. We just jumped right in, and they brought us our first, I wouldn't say.
Course, maybe this is actually a drink. She came by and explained that this drink is actually made from the sea urchin right here. So they dehydrate it and mix it with coconut milk and some other yummy things. You're supposed to swirl it and then give it. Well, that tastes like a delicious. So you can definitely taste this. And there's cornmeal in there. Oh my God it's so good. You would never know there's sea urchin in here. How cool. I had brought urchin in Japan, if you remember, and it was one of the worst things I ever ate. So.
Our first real course has arrived. And this is a beautiful raw scallop. It has two types of seaweed on top. One's pickled and one's salted. And then, because it's got a little Mexican flair, it's on top of a little tostada down there. The seaweed, the scallops is all from here in the Faroe Islands. You know, it's a fancy place. When they serve you a giant bowl with one bite, one bite. And they said to eat it in one bite. So, yeah, I'm so. That was what you call a flavor explosion. I loved the scallops. You know, a little slimy with seaweed on top of the crunchy tostada. Oh my gosh, the textures paired together so well. Of course they give you the most beautiful knife in the land.
Carbon steel. Looks incredible. Is it forged in fire? Yes, yes, it is. This will round off that fatty flavor. And we'll add a very distinct style. So this may look like a very simple dish, but it took her about ten minutes to explain it. So this is mackerel, local mackerel that they have dry aged for a couple days, a Japanese technique that uses seaweed somehow like that. And then they grill it to get it nice and crispy over here.
This is a little bit of it's supposed to be reminiscent of a Mexican salsa with tomatillo. These little dots are little berries that grow only two weeks out of the year. They go and forage them and then they pickled them. There's a little bit of an oil down in here again from seaweed. And then we've got caviar on the side. You can really hear the, the crunch of the skin of the Makarel. Wow. She said, get some of the mackerel, get some of the sauce, I guess some of the oil and then some of the caviar. That too much caviar? Never.
It might be too much caviar. Okay. Sure. that is a flavor explosion. How the heck do they get that much flavor out of a dish like this? Is so salty, so tangy. Umami is the word. That is what I would describe it as. Man. It is perfectly cooked. It's got a little bit of a crunch from the skin there. That is one of the most delicious pieces of fish I've ever had in my life. That was incredible. And they were saying, here, don't really like mackerel. Well, I don't know what he's doing, but holy mackerel, that's good.
Oh yeah. When they serve the dish, they serve it in tandem like a choreographed move. And then when they take it away, they do the exact same thing. Now that is fancy. Yeah. All right, you guys, we're trying to decide. Do you keep the knife and fork or do they take it away and give you a new one I'm voting for. Keep it. Oh my goodness. Right. Yes. Thank you, thank you. Dang. She was right. Winner. I guess you owe me this entire dinner.
Well, the next dish has arrived and it is like no taco I have ever seen. Of course, this is like a good example of the mix between Faroese and Mexican cuisine. So this is the langostino tail up here. And then it's on a little tortilla and some greens on the side. But we got to talk about the salsa because he came out with all the ingredients and constructed the whole thing in front of us. He ground it all together. He cut fresh microgreens that they grow themselves because they don't grow natively on the island. And then he put some chili oil in there and stuff.
He said, it is langoustine brain salsa. He scooped out literally the innards of the langoustine in there. For this one, he said, you 100% eat it with your hands. And he said, I put a lot of this salsa on every bite. The langoustine is perfectly grilled. It's got some fermented carrots underneath there. And he said, these are beach greens that reminded him of cactus from down in Mexico. I love it, the salsa. I would not know that it's lobster brains that it's just I mean, again, the flavors are all phenomenal.
They just blend so well, but they're all so unique. I'm battling the light here. We got like a blue light out there. We got the yellow light here. You look like you're about to tell a ghost story. Does it make it beautiful? Absolutely. This is the kitchen. As you can see, it's a very homey kitchen or appliance about something you can you could find in a house, pretty much, you know, as well as the way that the house looks.
This is because this building is one of the oldest one in Toshavn. It's about from the 1600. A reason why I brought you inside. It's kind of show off this seafood. We have our own diver that gets it for us. Fresh every day. Yes. Thank you. And what is your cup? Yeah. You are now having sea cucumbers. Okay. So you are free to touch it if you would like to, just to get an idea. Oh, you can also feel that the texture is quite thick, quite tough.
You know, after we dry it, then we fry it. and the results we get, it's a bit like the chicharron. Oh, Mexico exactly is very airy, crunchy texture. This little beauty is sea cucumber. from that. to this. to my mouth It's so crunchy it's crazy. I can hear you crunching on it. It is like a chicharron. Amazing. I think they just took us into the kitchen. Oh my gosh, it is such a small intimate. This is literally just a home you guys from the 1600s.
They took us and showed us all of the ingredients that they use in all of the meals that we've been eating so far. We were just given this lovely book with some Faroese food related words. Most importantly, strong taste and smell. Words like herskin, trauer, which means rancid, you know, rancid, bad smell, strong. So you may not know it to look at it, but this is classic Faroese cuisine right here. Maybe not always presented like this, but this is called Sherpikjot. which is there fermented sheep. So this is what they hang out on this huge leg.
They hang it out to dry. And apparently this one has been close to the ocean, which I guess gives it a nice strong, salty flavor. And this is a female and apparently that is a little bit less pungent. It is on top of a beignet. Yeah. Which is just a fried dough, I guess. But inside is a béchamel sauce, but it's made from the bone marrow of the sheep. The minute they set it down, you can smell it is pungent. Is the exact right word to describe it. It's almost like a stinky cheese.
Don't think, just eat it. We got a squirter! Oopsie! That is one of the strangest things I've ever eaten in my life. And I'm not even going to make some sexual jokes about what just happened. I'm not going to do it. I will say this. It is very well-made, very delicious, but it has some interesting flavors. The béchamel has the bone marrow.
I still have that like earthiness, like the grass taste. That's kind of in the meat. wow, man, I do need this book to help you. Yes. What's the word I'm going use, Rancid, yes It exploded with rancid. literally. Okay. This place just kicked it up a notch. They gave us an authentic Hittori Hanzo knife. This is actually custom made from a knife maker on one of the islands. Would they notice one missing? a souvenir.
I just want it so bad. It's so cool. Yeah. Wow. For our final savory dish, we have a fruit roll up with some rice and some soup on top. Just kidding. This is apparently a pasta leaf here. And it is in their natural colors, the red and black. So if there was a holiday or a wedding, everyone would be dressed in these colors. But this is actually toasted rice on top. Underneath here is fermented lamb neck and fermented for three months, unlike the leg that was for six months. Oh my gosh.
It's, again a potent, pungent smell. So we got some lamb. I got some of the rice in there. Oh man. like it looks like you love it. That's a wild ride, man. Oh my gosh. It's unlike anything I have ever tried in my entire life. It's like, fermented for sure. Yeah, yeah. Yes. You tick that box It is real funky, y'all. I think that's the best way to describe it.
It is funk to the max. Well, you sold me on it. Whooooaaa It's delicious! What are you talking about? What you think? It is so pungent, It hits my tastebuds like nothing I've ever had before. It fills your mouth. It's like the best parts of stinky cheese. Like raclette. It's a little like. Oh, it's spicier. Something. You know, I think it's pretty damn tasty. You didn't like this? Oh, I don't know. This is one of the most painful dishes I've ever had.
It's igniting my taste buds in a way I've never felt before. That's crazy. It's like, got the best parts of nasty. Musty old basement The sheep lived Where's a best part of that? Yes! It's this. Well, that was quite the little, food adventure we had took an unexpected turn at, the Rast restaurant that we went to last night.
Some of it was incredibly delicious. In between flavors, some of the strongest flavors I've ever had in my life. Some of it was so stinky and pungent that it just stayed with us for the rest of the night. I do appreciate that they really eased us into the really fermented, really juicy, hearty, wild stuff. So as you notice, that was a very fancy dining experience, not something we typically do. I think I'm more of a burger and fries type of guy, but it's a fun thing to experience every once in a while. Of course, the fish and chips were amazing.
All the other local stops we made, we were actually completely blown away by the soups. The soups here are just completely delicious, so come to try the fermented lamb, but stay for the soups. Yes, and the fish and chips. That was amazing. Sorry fisk & kips but we are on our way to explore more of the Faroes and we got ourselves their local breakfast to go. This is it. It's just the bread with the cheese. And then there's rhubarb jam in the middle and that is the special ingredient.
The rhubarb jam is fantastic. But yeah, you guys should leave a comment and let us know. Would you try all these fermented dishes or would you just stay away because the smell alone is enough for you to get the point. Well if you'd stay away You're wrong you guys. I promise you it is worth it. Come here and do the full on tasting. It was so fun. All right, I think that's it. Yeah. I think we have one more adventure left here. Yeah, it's going to be a fun one. Yet again local. All right. Goodbye. Adventures.
We'll see you on the road.
