niksal

I haven't found on this forum a Reykjavik Dining Thread, so maybe this could grow into one?

I am going in a few weeks to Reykjavik for my birthday. I have already looked at Tripadvisor, and found a few good places but they are priced quite high. Does anyone have tips for good food at a medium price in Reykjavik or surroundings? We will also be renting a car for two days and driving at least the Golden Circle, so if anyone has tips for lunch spots etc that would be great!

Thank you for any advice in advance!
Niksal

Alsacienne

I enjoyed meals in the following:-

Saegrifinn - (Sea Baron) - a wooden shack near the harbour, with tasty soup and fresh fish ... definitely NOT sophisticated but most enjoyable. Non-reservable so you may need to queue.

3 Frakkar - traditional Icelandic cuisine in a small downstairs dining room in a house not far from the Hallsgrimmur Church. Definitely recommend you make a reservation beforehand.

Laekjarbrekka - swish Icelandic restaurant in the town centre in a beautifully rustic setting with various dining rooms laid out in the style of a house. Not cheap but definitely worth it, especially for a special occasion. Definitely recommend you make a reservation beforehand.

Peregrine415

Food is expensive in Reykjavik but, hey, it's your birthday, so have a blast. There are several restaurant options in Reykjavik. Just walk along Laugavegur (this is the main strip in RVK) and pick a restaurant that you fancy. Although everything else is expensive in RVK, accommodations are reasonable and you have a whole range from a 5* hotel to a B&B and guesthouses (I prefer the latter).

derteilzeitberliner

Yes, dining in Reykjavik is not as cheap as elsewhere but every meal I have eaten in Iceland has been awesome.

Even in gas stations in the countryside, you can get home-made fresh lunch. Beats fast food any day!

Islenski Barinn, Austurvöllur in front of Althing.
Domo, Thingholtsstraeti near Laugavegur
Humarhusid, on Laekjartorg

gsch

Besides the obvious stated above, I would advise:

Sjávarkjallarinn (The Seafood Cellar): www.sjavarkjallarinn.is
Vox: www.vox.is
Argentina: www.argentina.is‎
Humarhúsiđ: www.humarhusid.is‎

If you have time, drive two-three hours to Hótel Búđir: www.hotelbudir.is‎

Efrem

About six years ago we had a very fine meal at Perlan (Pearl), a high-end restaurant on top of the municipal hot-water tank that rotates slowly so you get a view of all Reykjavik. Aside from the view, the service also lived up to the standard that the prices set. I noticed on some recent Icelandair New Year's Eve package promotional material that they include a dinner there. We're not considering that package, but we're thinking about a return visit to Iceland. TripAdvisor puts it 39th out of 114 Reykjavik restaurants, but that's not necessarily an indication of anything; a worse place could be ranked higher if it's also less expensive so people don't go with the same expectations. Anyone here have an opinion about how it is today?

asgeir

Some advice from a native Icelander:

3 Frakkar is a must. If you are an adventurous eater, I recommend the smoked puffin tartare and the whale steak. If not, their twist on the traditional Icelandic "plokkfiskur" fish hash is not to be missed.

Forget Perlan. It's a tourist trap of the worst kind, and since the economic crash seems forlorn and abandoned most days.

Laekjarbrekka is a more traditional choice but no less delicious. If they still have it on the menu, the lamb/langoustine "surf and turf" option is amazing.

Silfur at the Hotel Borg is a bit more modern and trendy in both decor and cuisine, but both meals I've had there were amazing. Their "lobster three ways" is a must if they still have it.

I hear good things about Dill, which I have not been to but all my friends rave about.

There are also some excellent ethnic restaurants. Austur-Indiafjelagid offers great Indian food and there is a fairly new Nepalese restaurant (can't remember the name) on Laugavegur. For old-time Italian, restaurant Italia is decent.

On the lower end: Icelandic Fish and Chips is fairly self-explanatory, Saegreifinn has wonderful seafood, and you absolutely must stop for the famous Icelandic hot dog at the downtown Baejarins beztu pylsur hot dog stand.

For snacks, I recommend visiting our bakeries. We have amazing pastries, both sweet and savory, and they make for wonderful between-meals filler.

Enjoy Iceland, and spend some money - we need it!

niksal

Thank you to everyone for all the replies! Only a few days to the trip now...

Based on tripadvisor the birthday dinner will be at Fiskfelagid, although I am a bit worried that it's not mentioned here at all. Bad choice?

We have 4 other nights as well, so 3 Frakkar sounds definitely like something for one of them. I've also stumbled upon Dill in my investigations, but it is quite pricey... Let's see.

One thing I forgot to mention was that my girlfriend needs gluten-free food. Do you expect that to be an issue, both when it comes to availability and the attitude towards such requests?

I will make sure to share my experiences here!

derteilzeitberliner

Actually, when I was in Reykjavik, Perlan was so dead that we were offered a soup and a dessert on the house (I was offered to join two other people from my group, it wasn't my idea!).

Nice but it looked kinda desperate.

Good duck though.

bez7

I need a food trip to Iceland! And maybe drop by Björk and Jonsi and Gus Gus...

Efrem

Thanks for the update. We'll probably still return to Iceland, but we can cross one spot off our list!

niksal

Have returned from my trip to Iceland. I have to say it was absolutely amazing, and every person on this planet should experience the fabulous nature, the beautiful sights as well as delicious food Iceland has to offer! I will for sure return, and spend less time in Reykjavik and more driving around the whole country.

I promised restaurant reviews, so here we go!

First night, the day we arrived, we had booked a table at 3 Frakkar. To be completely honest, after all the hype here about the place it was a huge disappointment. When I booked the table, I had mentioned that my girlfriend needs gluten-free food and got the response that it is no problem. When we came to the restaurant, they said they had only one main course "that they can be sure" is gluten-free! What? I thought it was no problem? And don't they know what their food consists of if they are not sure what contains gluten and what doesn't? I don't have the restriction, but I just ordered the wrong dish I think. I had the plaice, which was decent but not in any way fabulous. We also had some sort of dessert, which I can't even remember what it was as it wasn't special.

Don't get me wrong, the food wasn't in any way bad, but it wasn't also in any way special or memorable. It was sad, as I had expected something special and therefore chose the place for our first evening.

Next day Blue Lagoon (wow, what a place!) and after that in Reykjavik an absolutely fabulous dinner!

We went to the Fish Company, where we had the around Iceland menu with the wine package. I have this year eaten in various cities including Paris, Barcelona and New York and this meal was by far the best meal this year! The flavors were absolutely fantastic! The wines were so-so compared to the food, but I didn't mind at all. And the wine package was quite generous The cost (200€ for two all included) I didn't consider bad at all. No problem whatsoever with gluten-free, so we both could enjoy all the flavours.

The third day, we drove around quite a lot and were tired so we just had a quick bite at some place called Solon. Let's just say that it was horrible and don't go there for dinner! But afterwards I had a hotdog at the Baejarins beztu (which was literally outside our hotel room) and that was amazing! No wonder it is famous, as the hotdogs are really really good! Had another one as well another day.

The fourth night we again drove around. But this time we had a destination in the end, Fjörubordid in a town called Stokkseyri. This place is famous for lobster, and especially lobster soup. They are saying the lobster soup is worth a long drive, and I can only agree. The best lobster soup ever, in fact probably the best any soup ever! We went there when it was dark already, but I think it could be nice during daylight so you could enjoy the views. The lobsters were good as well, but didn't reach the level of the soup. A big plus for the fact that they had organised gluten-free bread for my girlfriend!

My rating was sadly negatively affected by the fact that when it was time for us to order the bill, our waitor was not interested in us at all as he was busy with some other table in another room. None of the other waitors took any interest in us and we couldn't catch their attention. This was in fact quite a typical experience for many places we went to (cafés and restaurants). Thought Iceland needed the money?

The fifth and last day we walked around in quite some bad weather and wanted lunch. We then remembered the harbor, and went to the Sea Baron. We had the lobster soup. It is unfair to compare to the soup at Fjörubordid, but still this was a very very good soup. And the place was charming! I'm a bit sad we didn't go there earlier as I really would have liked to try the other foods there as well. Definitely recommend!

For the dinner we went to Islenski Barinn. Tourist-place, so I had to have tourist-food. I took the taste of Iceland-menu. I also had my first taste of the Black Death and found it delicious! Bought 3 bottles at the airport

My girlfriend picked something else from the menu. Our bad that we didn't expect to see other things on her plate than what was mentioned in the menu, but this place had a thing for bread croutons everywhere! Why? I was a bit amused that my starter was a seafood soup. Not as good as the two other soups, but decent anyway. I liked the fact that it had plenty of seafood in it! My main course was minked whale (!) which to me was at first an ethical dilemma. The next second I absolutely loved it. I would say it was somewhere between raindeer and tuna, and it was really nice. Dessert was skyr, which was ok but not my big favourite.

I should also mention breakfast. I stayed at the Radisson Blu 1919. Their breakfast for 2200 ISK is quite good value. It is not very big for a hotel breakfast buffet, but compared to what you get in cafés for 2200 ISK, and the fact that breakfasts without gluten were hard to find, it was definitely worth the money for us. And you of course get the Goldpoints!

So in general I had some fantastic dining experiences in and around Reykjavik. Otherwise I would tell travellers to spend a night or max 2 in Reykjavik and then go out and explore the wonderful things the country has to offer!

Alsacienne

Sorry you were disappointed by 3 Frakkar. However, having had a visit from a friend who was wheat and gluten intolerant for a week, I think you are perhaps unrealistic in expecting restaurants to be able to guarantee a choice of several gluten-free dishes at any one time unless it's a specialist restaurant. And do remember that Iceland has to import a lot of its ingredients and foodstuffs ....

Glad that on balance you had a good time .... and ate well.

niksal

My point was that 3 Frakkar said "no problem" to the gluten-free request that was made several days in advance and that both Fish Company and Fjörubordid noted and adjusted the dishes for my girlfriend accordingly. Heck, the latter had even acquired special bread! To me that's a sign of a quality restaurant that takes into account the client, and others with dietary restrictions should be made aware of which restaurants are good at taking into account such requests. It would have been completely fair if 3 Frakkar had up front said that gluten free is a problem. We probably wouldn't have gone to the place at all and avoided a disappointment.

In Helsinki it is normal to have menus marked with L, V and G for dishes that are low lactose, vegetarian or gluten-free. In my experience that's quite unique. I don't really see why it would be so difficult for restaurants in other countries to give such information?

Alsacienne

Very true and a good idea .... and yes I have visited Helsinki and travelled in Finland ... but, living on the corner of France touching Switzerland and Germany, not every country shares the same amount of common sense or even awareness of different dietary requirements!!