Saffran: India meets fast food and it’s never been so good!

In the fantasy of many, the words fast food conjure images of endless queues, mediocre and badly packaged dishes, suspicious ingredients and food so greasy and hardly digestible that even a walrus would find it difficult to have a nice day in the full possession of its faculties after swallowing it down. Giant creepy clowns or the aproned effigy of Colonel Sanders are a few of the next images that will in all probability be conjured after that – or contemporaneously, putting the conjurer in a even more  horrified state.

If you want to be convinced that not all fast foods are depression-inducing or hellish for your digestive apparatus – or both – maybe Reykjavík is the place to be. Leaving aside considerations about the fact there isn’t anymore a single operative MacDonald’s in the whole country – maybe one of the few positive legacies left behind by an otherwise catastrophic financial crisis – even the most difficult to please gluttons will find delightfully surprising to see that in Iceland the notion of food to be consumed fast can evoke notions of pleasure and joy. As a matter of fact, in Reykjavík many restaurants and cafés are applying quick service rules to deliver meals to their customers. Nothing out of the ordinary with that. It happens in many other places. The difference I detected is about the quality of the service offered, not about the classification of this service. Whereas in many cases when you enter a fast food or similar restaurant – a place where you can get your food fast and at lower prices than in regular restaurants, that is – you can often expect a kind of service that can in the best conditions be tolerable – and this includes not only the actual service but also the quality of the food consumed – in the Reykjavík area you can hope to get a little more than that. I’m not saying this is valid for any single fast food restaurant in Reykjavík as opposed to any other one in the world. I’m speaking merely of an average, of course. And I am aware of the fact what I am saying is in contradiction with a lot of posting and commenting you find in sites especially thought for travellers and tourists: there I read more than once that in Iceland not only prices are higher, but the personnel in restaurants, shops and supermarkets is ill-mannered and the service is approximate. I can only say there’s a lot of prejudice and provincialism in this kind of statements, of the species that’s proper of obtuse tourists wanting everything everywhere to be exactly like at home.

Since we got plenty of Italian food when we were living in Italy and since Italy is a country where usually ethnic food is brought to the public keeping in mind the local lack of mental flexibility – that is, it’s not the best if you want to get to know the authentic cuisine of other cultures – we were impatient to try Saffran, a fast food restaurant of Indian inspiration we had read about a lot. To be honest, we had only read good things about it, and after tasting what they had to offer it’s sure as heck I won’t be the first one to oppose this general trend.

Saffran is a relatively new acquisition in the Reykjavík area.  The first restaurant opened in March 2009 in Glæsibær. A second restaurant in Kopavogur followed in the August of the same year. The way Saffran describes its own food is “healthy, international, fresh, exotic and cheap food that spices your soul and body”. And they probably couldn’t be more right about it.

As the restaurant, as already mentioned, follows rules proper of fast foods, you are supposed to order at the counter and pay for your food right away. The service is quick, you don’t have to wait for a long time for your order; when it’s ready you get served at the table. After taking a look at the menu, we ordered the Lobster and garlic tango, a salad consisting of garlic marinated lobster, sweet potatoes, cherry tomatoes, shiraz salad garlic, fennel and garlic dill sauce (1590 ISK)  and naan with garlic and coriander (180 ISK) to start. After that we had the Saffran chicken and red onion on a spear, consisting of delicious chicken tandoori served on rice and accompanied by salad and a sauce of your choice (1490 ISK), which is rightly regarded as the star course of Saffran. Portions were very rich and the food was frankly a little too good. Both lobster salad and chicken were prepared and presented with the greatest care and attention. Also, despite its more than generous quantities, the food wasn’t of the kind one can find troublesome to digest. Everything was measured and perfect: no overabundance of condiments to vexate the stomach and hide deficiencies in the cooking or in the choice of ingredients, no annoying gimmicks that are often part of fancy meals.

Since we enjoyed our dinner at the restaurant so much, we decided on the day after to try the take away. We got pizzas this time. They were very peculiar, but once again Saffran couldn’t disappoint. The pizzas are around the size of 9”. We had one House Pizza (saffran chicken, red onion, grilled eggplant and mozzarella – 1190 ISK) and a Happy Lobster Pizza (garlic marinated lobster, garlic, pistachios and frisee salad – 1390 ISK).  Made not of white but, I believe, of whole flour, the dough is light and crunchy. Every pizza is served with salad and prepared with an excellent spicy tomato sauce. The experience was so satisfactory we didn’t regret not going to some Italian pizzeria instead, and as a matter of fact we are planning to try some other of their pizzas as soon as possible. Yum!

Conclusion: if you value the money you spend on a meal and want to try something maybe a little out of your usual standards, go to Saffran. The food is first-rate, ingredients are fresh and prices are very reasonable; the service is also quick and the staff efficient. It isn’t very likely you will be dissatisfied.

You can find Saffran at two different locations: Álfheimum 74, 104 Glæsibær & Dalvegur 4,  200 Kópavogur. Website at www.saffran.is.