Plokkfiskur

Plokkfiskur began as a way to use yesterday's boiled fish: flake it, mash it with boiled potato and onion, bind it with a white sauce, season it and heat the lot through. It is served with dark rye bread and butter, sometimes browned under a grill first, and it is the dish most Icelanders name when asked what they actually ate growing up. Restaurants have taken it up as a lunch plate and dressed it with cheese or herbs, but the plain version is the real one: soft, mild, salty and much better than its grey appearance promises.

What you actually see

• The base - flaked cod or haddock mashed together with potato and onion.
• The sauce - a plain white sauce binding the whole thing.
• Rye bread and butter - the standard partners on the plate.
• The lunch version - the restaurant plate, often browned with cheese on top.

When to go

Year-round, and at lunch rather than dinner, since this is a midday dish in canteens and on set lunch menus where it is also cheapest. Winter suits it. Look for it on the weekday lunch board rather than the evening menu, where it is often absent or priced as something grander than it is.

Honest expectations

It looks like nothing at all, a pale heap, and the texture is soft throughout with nothing to bite on. Quality swings widely: made well it is savoury and comforting, made badly it is bland and pasty. Evening versions in the tourist streets charge a great deal for what is fundamentally leftovers.

Nearby

It belongs with rye bread, dried fish and lamb soup in the same plain Icelandic repertoire.