Fimbul PDX Konudagur Dinner

Earlier this week I attended an instantiation of the Nordic supper club Fimbul PDX popup, offering Icelandic Cuisine. The theme of the dinner on February 12th, 2019 was to celebrate Konudagur, Icelandic Women’s Day. This holiday, as explained by Fimbul, “has deep roots in ancient Viking midwinter feasts celebrating Góa, the wife of the Winter King Þorri. We will be awaiting the first signs of Spring and celebrating the feminine energy with our tasting menu.”

Besides the 7 course meal for $80, this dinner Fimbul PDX also offered a beverage pairing option that featured wine and spirits crafted by an all female lineup, and during the dinner a playlist of music of Icelandic female artists as we sailed through the tasting menu together.

In particular I think everyone at one point could not resist the Hot Buttered Aquavit with the house aquavit, hay butter, bergamot, and cardamon

I have mentioned before on the blog and social media that Fimbul PDX is one of my favorite pop up experiences in Portland. First of all, how unique is it to be enjoying Icelandic cuisine? The dinners each offer different themes so even as a returning attendee there are always new surprises of dishes.

And, let me emphasize – you will always be surprised. The way Matt Wickstrom and wife Aurora and team write up the menu is very sparse and does not prepare you really for what you are going to get. You’ll see soon as I expand the descriptions of the menu with my experience.

Here is a walk through of the dinner I enjoyed to give you an idea of what a dinner with Fimbul PDX might be like. And TLDR; I highly highly recommend it.

Snacks

dulse bread and hay butter

Snacks Board. I opted for the whole dinner and drinks pairing. They did not have the female crafted wine available by the glass, but had several aquavits and a non alcoholic option of a raspberry and lovage house soda. While the drinks pairing included 4 wines, they also included aquavit, for a total of 5 beverages.

The snacks board was paired with Fimbul PDX House Aquavit made with roasted dandelion syrup, dill front, and toasted caraway

On the snacks board were…
– cod cheek, carrot

– celeriac, quail egg – whatever has the quail egg is always my favorite bite from the snack board

– hrútspungar, potato  – aka sheep testicle. I enjoyed the little in joke of enjoying balls at this themed dinner – honestly you can not even tell what it is because it is pressed and cured almost like a firm pate.

courses

radish, rhubarb, hay

For this dish, the radish preparations include poached, roasted, and sliced, served here with rhubarb jam. It was an interesting study on how radish can taste and feel so different.

dung-smoked trout, waffle, leak ash

Besides the cured trout that is smoked low and slow for multiple hours using dungfrom local Sauvie Island sheep, the dish also had a healthy helping of trout roe waterfalling down the waffle. The heart waffle is brushed with hay butter, and leek sour cream is made with skyr. I loved this dish so much and thought it would be my favorite of the night… but we were just getting started!

The above 2 dishes were paired with Filipa Pato ‘FP’ Branco 2017 Bairrada, Portugal

fennel, duck, whey

The duck is cured with fennel, served with also an aquavit syrup and port soaked raisin, and fennel also appears as a chip and as a a finish in fennel oil.

What really stood out about this dish is how incredibly crunchy it was with all the edges of fennel that you see charred at the base, and then contrasting that with the softness of the thinly slices duck prosciutto. Really delicious and unique in I’ve never had fennel this way.

blood, cauliflower, thyme

The dish sounds intimidating – but was so incredibly beautiful and tasty with flavors and textures. It was my favorite dish of the night!

When it came down to the actual dish, the “Blood” comes as a Swedish dumpling or gnocchi of potato and blood. This is then paired with romanesco cooked in thyme broth with reindeer moss foam and those very potent drops of Montana huckleberry (I believe gathered from Matt’s hometown) fermented with skyr drops and elderberry drops and cauliflower chip for a little crispy crunch.

The above 2 courses were paired with Art & Science Petillant Naturel 2017 Willamette Valley Oregon. Fimbul has become great partners with them- they are also collaborating with Art & Science on a dung smoked cider coming soon to a future pop up!

lamb belly, dandelion, fermented apple


The lamb belly is cooked with coriander and fennel and mead for 24 hours, roasted, dandelion greens, apple also appears as a puree with yeast, and a barley porridge with sheep milk and a bit of ricotta from that sheep milk, finally dusted with angelica powder. Paired with Daterra Viticultores ‘Azos de Vila’ 2016 Ribiera Sacra Spain.

rutabaga, pink peppercorn, buttermilk

Since it has rutabaga, this is like good for me right? For this dish the rutabaga is dehydrated and caramelized with whey and served with rutabaga cream, pink peppercorn cake with aquavit, and there is a dark rye crumble for some fun crunch. I loved this as a dessert as it wasnt too sweet or rich.

Paired with Occhipinti ‘SP68’ Bianco 2017 Siciliy Italy

ostur

skyr, blueberries, cream

This is 3 year wild blueberry ferment yeast that they have been cultivating and continue to use through their meals. It’s the perfect ending bite that isn’t too heavy but leaves you with a tangy refreshing flavor with a creamy mouthfeel that you can rationalize is as healthy as you’d like.

Thanks to the whole crew for the wonderful food and hospitality. The way the dinner is set up in the Holdfast space, every seat is a counter seat so you can watch the plates being created step by step with all the different components coming togetjer like a painting. Also how precious are those heart shaped waffles!

Now that they have a better kitchen home and have been working together as a team more, they are really running on all cylinders – and the food I have here definitely rivals some of the Michelin starred meals I had last year.

Be sure to follow Fimbul PDX on social media and join their mailing list so you can be in the know of when and where is their next monthly popup happening. And remember, no matter what the menu descriptions may say, just know it is even better then it sounds, and let them take you on this adventure.