Moss Restaurant in Iceland May Have a Michelin-Starred Menu, But Its Secret Ingredient Butter Is the Star of the Show

At Moss, the newly minted Michelin-starred restaurant in Grindavík, Iceland, the dining room looks out over a scenic black lava field. On the ever-changing seven-course tasting menu, star ingredients might include local sea urchin collected by a diver off the west coast, pungent Icelandic wasabi grown in one of the world’s most technologically advanced greenhouses, and some of the freshest lamb in the country. The wine cellar is built into 800-year-old volcanic rock, and guests can arrange a tour before dinner, descending the steps to sip a glass of Dom Pérignon amid rows of rare and vintage bottles.   

But the real highlight of a dinner at Moss may be the butter.

Concocted in-house when the restaurant first opened in 2018 at the Retreat at Blue Lagoon Iceland, the signature butter is made by whipping skyr, a thicker Icelandic version of yogurt, into soft butter and finishing it with a sprinkling of Atlantic dulse seaweed and sea salt. Both the butter and skyr are made using milk from local farmers. 

“The inspiration for our butter comes from our pride in Icelandic skyr,” says chef Ingi Thorarinn Fridriksson, director of food and beverage at Blue Lagoon. “We added dulse as a nod to Grindavik, the fishing town where the Blue Lagoon is located.” 

They also add sea salt, made on-site at the Blue Lagoon research & development center. “This sea salt is extraordinarily unique in that it’s cultivated from geothermal seawater 2000 meters from within the earth and is one of the cleanest salts you can consume,” the chef adds. 

The white creamy cloud arrives atop a smooth black rock alongside a basket of housemade bread — including dark sourdough and soft potato caraway, inspired by a traditional Icelandic variety — and crisp cod skin, sustainably sourced from the nearby harbor, then dried and dusted with caper powder. 

Butter has long been a staple of the Icelandic diet, a result of the abundance of grass-fed cows, plus, it’s “a good source of nutrients and calcium for those surviving the harsh environment,” says Fridriksson. 

Although the addition of skyr seems obvious — the fermented dairy has been part of the Icelandic diet since at least Viking times, after all —the butter recipe is unique to Moss, according to Fridriksson. "We've been making butter this way since we opened in 2018, but Icelandic chefs enjoy experimenting with local ingredients like skyr, so I wouldn't be surprised if it starts to appear in other local restaurants," he says. 

Luckily, the recipe is easy to replicate at home — soften butter over warm water, then fold in the skyr and whip it until it's white and fluffy before adding a pinch of salt and seaweed. For the Icelandic uni and flutes of Dom surrounded by nearly millennium-old volcanic rock, though, you'll have to go straight to the source.