Review:
A bit of a cheat really as this isn't a restaurant per se, but it is the place I ate in for two weeks. Normally a coastal ferry, for a month a year it does cruises up the coast of Greenland, up as far north as you can get without starting to walk (I think we got to about 1,000km from the pole, which ain't bad). The menu changed day to day and as you'd expect, fish predominated. A good thing here as it is uniformly fresh and tasty.

Of course, one of the joys of travelling is trying the local cuisine, and this the chef tries to accommodate. First up is whale. Inuk, our tour guide and native Greenlandian explains its popularity amongst the locals is down to the quality of the meat, the fact it lasts well and provides a goodly amount of what the body needs to work in this climate. If a whale is brought to market, you have to be quick to buy before its all snapped up. We have the good red meat roasted. Inuk suggests it has been marinated to soften it for the more western palates on board, but I like the meaty flavour that comes through.

The big treat is a Greenlandic buffet. Along with fish pickled in various ways we have dried catfish, dried musk ox, whale skin and a fish stew with whole, small fish (about 8cm). The whale skin has a very gentle taste but a very tough, rubbery consistency, almost gristle-like. Inuk informed me that the Greenlanders think the Faroe Islanders are feebler than they because they miss out by not eating the skin of the whales they catch - it's full of vital nutrients apparently. I think greenlanders have good jaw muscles because the dried musk ox is also quite tough. The flavour is strong but much like other dried meat I've had, South African biltong springs to mind. The real hit for me is the dried catfish which has a wonderfully intense fish flavour to its lightly chewy meat. You have to pull it off the skin which is amazingly tough and gets used for all sorts of demanding tasks (I think I remember Inuk saying they make rope with it, but I could be wrong on that one). The small fish, ammassak by name, has, Inuk informs me, proved the saviour of Greenlanders, providing reliable foodstocks in tough times. They also provide a staple for the sled dogs. Eaten in a stew, bones and all, they are pleasantly oily and full of goodness. Evidently, they will keep a dog team going well on 1 or 2 a day. Its clear from this trip that life in Greenland is dominated by hunting for food. Prices of all the imported, normal to us foods are prohibitive meaning Greenlanders have to rely on hunting to provide for themselves. From this albeit westernized glimpse, what they do with it is simple but tasty. 3rd Man 2003