The traveller's table: After beef, try minke whale steak

REYKJAVIK - Iceland is a whaling nation where about 40 restaurants serve dishes featuring whale meat.

Gamla Vinhusid, a steak house in the nation's capital, Reykjavik, offers minke whale steak with pepper sauce.

Priced at 2,500 krona (S$25) each, the entree costs less than half the price of lamb steak, which is a highly popular dish enjoyed throughout the nation.

"It's ordered by 90 per cent of tourists who visit the restaurant," said the restaurant's manager, Alfred Johansson, 55.

The whale dish, ordered an average of 200 times a week, offers a taste and texture similar to beef.

Gun Sjostrom, 49, a Swedish customer who tried whale meat for the first time, said it "was delicious and tasted like deer."