Geirabakarí [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Geirabakarí
Address: Digranesgata 6, Borgarnes 
Website: n/a 
Style: Icelandic 
Price: $$ 

A suggestion from the bnb owner in Akureyri -- thank you! :) I was stuck in the town of Borgarnes for three-four hours, waiting for a bus transfer, and this allowed me more than ample time to drag my suitcase about a five minutes' walk to the Bonus/Hagkaup plaza and have myself a seat and treat at the town's only bakery. Those exploring by foot may miss it, but if you're driving across the bridge, you're bound to see this large cafe with its panoramic view of the mountains. 

Geirabakarí is nonetheless a very busy place and almost every table was occupied. Unlike other bakeries, where people seem to go mostly for lunch and light snacks, I was a little surprised to find so many people taking the cake slices and gigantic cinnamon rolls, which are without a doubt the biggest seller -- while waiting in line, a whole tray was brought out from the back for the restocking. Selection of the usual danish pastries wasn't that large; instead, they seem to focus more on yeast baked goods, like various sizes and variations of those aforementioned cinnamon rolls. And those cakes. I myself wasn't lured in by the three types of American-style slab cakes: carrot cake, chocolate cake and caramel, though I was contemplating the latter. At 340kr (it might have been 380kr; I didn't make a note of absolutely everything), they're fairly well priced for cake slices and come with a more than generous dollop of whipped cream on the side. Why not top that off with a whipped cream-topped cappuccino? (An old man actually ordered this combination in front of me) You know, just in case you want to spend your daily caloric intake in one sitting. ;D 

Joking aside, the goods were nonetheless quite tasty. Not wanting to invest in the downright gigantic cinnamon roll (280kr, I believe), I took the smaller "milk roll" (or something along those lines; 250kr), which turned out to be a cinnamon roll at first glance, with the traditional pink or chocolate icing, but was filled in the middle with a sort of thick custard. I'm not sure the concept was such a good one. The outer layers of just pure cinnamon bun were quite tasty, as was a little bit of the custard, but mixing too little dough and too much cinnamon mass and custard made the finale (i.e. the centre) an ooey gooey mess that ended up on the bag. Stick to the gigantic 'snails'. 

I also took a little snack to eat there with my characteristic box of chocolate milk: another one of those "love balls" (ástar pungur; 140kr) Compared to my previous sampling, I preferred this fluffy, eggy dough a lot better than the denser cake dough. It was well fried with a great semi-crispy outside and super soft inside with raisins mixed in here and there; the only thing that somewhat disappointed was the fact that there was no spice this time around! Where's the cardamom? *pouts* 

Although it probably won't make it into my top three of the year, this place is certainly worthy of a visit if you're in West Iceland -- and given the fact that there aren't that many bakeries in the area, you might not have that much of a choice. ;D Hey, but at least it's good, right? 

Rating: ***