LOCATION: Baejarins Beztu Pylsur, Reykjavik, by the harbour. You’ll find it.
PRICE: 380 ISK (£1.96).
BREAD: Hot dog bun.
FILLING: Hot dog, diced raw onion, crispy fried onions (CRONIONS), ketchup, remoulade, sweet mustard.
PROS: This is a tale of 5 hot dogs, truth be told, because that’s how many different combinations of condiments I tried before I was satisfied. This doesn’t really fit into a pros and cons format either, so I’m just going to pretend it isn’t happening and shoe horn some text in regardless.
I started with ‘the works’ which, admirably, includes two types of onion. The first is finely chopped raw onion, of which I am a huge fan; I love how the Dutch put it on chips, and I loved that the Icelandic put it on this hot dog. It was, however, a little lost under the slightly acrid but nevertheless pleasing powerhouse that is CRONIONS. These are deep fried onions which the Icelandic seem to use like salt.
I go back and I ask for another but with double raw onion. Better. But wait, what is this strangeness? There is brown goo on my hot dog and boy, does it take some getting used to. It is described as mustard but I just can’t get behind that…sweet n spiced goo? Sticky slicky brown sauce? Weird ass savoury icing? It’s unusual, and odd, so I ask for a third, but without.
It doesn’t work. I miss the mind bending sauce. This surprising turn of events unnerves me but I soldier on, drunk and insatiable. I haven’t mentioned the remoulade yet, which should be horrible, being as it is a mixture of mayo and relish. I try one without. Doesn’t work.
Finally, I try double raw onion, single CRONION, remoulade and double ketchup but this makes the dog taste too American. What I want now is the original dog, in all its over sauced, unfamiliar glory.
So there it is. I got drunk and ate five different hot dogs only to conclude that the first was the best. This is a public service.
CONS: I was very full.
SCORE: 7/10
The London Review of Sandwiches 