Hakarl is a national dish of Iceland, ... WHAT DOES HAKARL TASTE LIKE? Depending on who is doing the dining, shark meat tastes like chicken — or roadkill. It had a slight taste of fermentation, but not enough to totally gross me out. Skyr is a national treasure: a low-fat soft cheese that tastes like a particularly creamy yoghurt. A friend described it as "startlingly good". The taste of the Icelandic fermented shark is very smell-based. [+] rest of the shark is fermented and served to guests at this fish house in Northern Iceland. ICELAND: Hakarl, An Acquired Rotten Taste. If you are sensitive to strong smell you are more likely to dislike the shark but if you are a fan of strong cheese, for example, and don’t mind the smell you might just fall into the latter category. Depending on who is doing the dining, shark meat tastes like chicken — or roadkill. The verdict – It definitely does not taste like chicken. There are two important things to know about it: 1. Only alcoholic drinks are a bit of a disappointment. It doesn’t look like, taste like, or smell like anything you’ve ever tried before, and I probably won’t be suggesting a surströmming encore in the future. And why would anyone ever put themselves through that? First-timers are sometimes advised to pinch their nose while taking the first bite, as the smell is much stronger than the taste. And I'm definitely going to the Hamburgeseria (sp?) Contrary to popular belief, hákarl is not disgusting. again. Fermented shark contains a large amount of ammonia and has a strong smell, similar to many cleaning products. What are we talking about? Yum. It's meaty and mild — but has to be soaked well before it's eaten because sharks urinate through their skin. If you’ve ever had one of those snack packs with cubes of cheese and turkey, the shark bits were exactly like the turkey cubes in terms of texture and chewiness. I would encourage (and challenge!) I've had the fermented shark in Iceland, at this really kitchy viking restaurant thing, a real tourist trap I think, but our local guides had pointed us in that direction. Try it with moss syrup. It's meaty and mild — but has to be soaked well before it's eaten because sharks urinate through their skin. To prevent that from happening, it gets buried in dirt for months. Shark gives your taste-buds a slight slap and could maybe be compared to some of the more pungent cheeses you can get, while skata is a full-scale assault that can – literally – leave you crying. It is often served in cubes on toothpicks.Those new to it may gag involuntarily on the first attempt to eat it because of the high ammonia content.