Icelandic fishmongers in New Jersey

On the main shopping street in the pretty little town of Closter in New Jersey the Icelandic flag has been put up in a shop window. It's where couple Ólafur Gísli and María Baldursson run The Fish Dock, a fishmongers selling fresh Icelandic fish.

Morgunblaðið journalist Hildur Loftsdóttir visited The Fish Dock recently and interviewed the couple.

The Fish Dock has a very homey feel. The first things you spot in the shelves are Icelandic butter, Icelandic caviar, smoked trout, herring and Icelandic spring water. There's also Icelandic sea salt, Icelandic chocolate and Icelandic designer products. And there's even smoked haddock in the fish counter.

The shop is crowded with customers picking up their lunch, which today is salmon with brussel sprouts and rice pilaf. "I come here almost everyday," says one customer. "It's the best place in town."

The couple opened the restaurant in the spring of 2015 along with Baldur's son Ólafur who is a marketing specialist. Last Christmas they were joined by Jóhanna Arfmann from Tálknafjörður in Iceland and Courtney VanTine, a daughter of their friends.

Ólafur and María are both from Skagafjörður in North Iceland and they've known each otehr for ages. María has lived in the US for around 30 years and has two grown sons. She used to work for Roled and then as a real estate salesperson. Ólafur only moved to the US in 2010. "That's when we found each other again," he says, looking at María.

She smiles. "We used to be a couple, way back."

The couple were convinced that opening a fishmongers selling Icelandic fish would work out well. The only fish on offer is Icelandic, but they also stock American shrimp. "But they're wild, because we focus on quality," says María. "We're providing fish now for five or six restaurants here in New Jersey, including the best steak house in the state called The River Palm Terrace in Edgewater," adds Ólafur.

Aside from all the fresh fish on offer, they also provide a fish dish of the day for lunch to take away. Soon, they will also be offering a take-away dinner. "We weren't going to cook here but we've got such a great location here because it used to be a small restaurant," says María, who is the one who cooks the dishes.  On Fridays, they offer a popular seafood chowder with salmon, shrimp and mussels. But their most popular fish? "Salmon. It makes for one third of our sales."

Scandinavians who have heard of us come a long way to buy our fish. A lot of the people here in Closter are originally from South Korea. They buy fish from each other and they like their fish different, with head and bones to make soup. The Japanese however love our place."

The Fish Dock has also received favourable media attention with articles appearing in The Record and a cover of Better Living magazine. "People think it's cool to buy Icelandic products and we're proud of our Icelandic fish."