You won’t find a McDonalds in Iceland as the last one shut down in 2009-aah, shame! but you can get great burgers and hotdogs, fishy and meaty dishes as well as wonderful soups. If you are interested, the last McDonalds burger bought in Iceland is now on display at a hostel. It’s well over ten years old now and still looks as tasty as ever! Don’t believe me?- Click HERE.
Let’s do the drinking bit first-
Drinkies
There are loads of bars and pubs in Reykjavik as one would expect. I have tried quite a few and liked them all! Some of my favourites are – Kex which is near the Sun Voyager monument and Dillon Whiskey Bar which has a prime spot on Laugavegur .The Irishman Pub is another great place for a drinky with a generously long happy hour. See more on Happy Hour below.
If you want to watch live sports, the The Lebowski Bar is a good option and they also have a great range of burgers to scoff. The larger American Bar has several screens and an excellent menu too and their ribs are great!
Happy Hour
The great thing about Happy Hour in Reykjavik is that they often go on for a lot more than just the one hour! I recommend getting the app called Barhopp which is very helpful. The following websites are also very informative-Guide to Iceland and Visitor’s Guide to Iceland. Most of my favritist bars listed above have a lengthy happy hour! The bars in the foodhalls do not seem to have a Happy Hour sadly.
Eating
There are plenty of excellent restaurants and cafes in Reykjavik to choose from and here are my favrits. You may be a bit shocked at the prices if this is your first visit to Iceland. A main meal can easily cost double or even treble what you may pay back at home. A bottle of wine is likely to be around £40! Beer is a good option if you like a drink [other than water] with your meal. Lovely fresh Icelandic water is free, so don’t buy bottled. Most of the bars mentioned above also serve decent food.
The Reykjavik Kitchen is near the Hlemmur foodhall right next to Lucky Records. On our recent visit my wife and I were treated to probably the best fish dishes that we have ever tasted! [Thanks Laura for the recommendation].
Forrettbarinn : We have eaten here several times now, including a wonderful New Years Eve dinner. They offer well presented and superb food in a relaxed environment. It’s in a residential street near the old harbour so you probably won’t stumble accross it by accident.
Íslenski barinn has a nice vibe and a decent menu ranging from hot dogs to burgers, and other meaty and fishy dishes including the infamous Hákarl– see my review at the bottom of this page.
Grái Kötturinn: This small cafe is only open in the day. It’s great for breakfast, brunch or lunch and their coffee is wonderful. Their pancakes are huge, so the small pancake option should fill you up.
Sægreifinn : The Sea Baron is a fish restaurant and has a good reputation and is generally considered to be good value. It’s in a hut by the old harbour and does not look impressive, but their lobster soup is meant to be amazing. My family and I did enjoy the food here- we had fish skewers, but it was still pretty pricey and we were all still hungry afterwards. I think we should have had the soup as a starter which may have helped fill us up.
Kex: The Kex Hostel is housed in an unnassuming block, but head upstairs and you enter a large pleasant room with a bar and restaurant as well as the reception for the hostel. They have a good selection of home brewed beers on tap and a small but yummy menu. I used to love the reasonably priced pizza menu which were as good as Flatey in my opinion! Sadly it is currently undergoing a refit so the kitchen is currently closed but I am eager for it to reopen! [hurry up!]
Kaffivagninn on the harbour arm is the perfect place to stop for lunch, coffee or cakey. It’s Iceland’s oldest operating restaurant apparently. It’s near Fly Over Iceland.
FOODHALLS
There are several foodhalls dotted around Reykjavik- The Grandi Foodhall is by the harbour, Borg 29 is east of the city centre not far from Laugardaslaug baths and Vera Food Court is near the university. The Kringlan Shopping Mall near Perlan also has a new food hall called Kúmen but it’s on the outskirts of the city.
Pósthús Mathöll, the new kid on the block is in the town centre in an old post office building. It’s attractively laid out with several rooms on more than one level but it can get packed out and noisy at peak times.
My favritist foodhall is Hlemmur food Hall which currently has 6 different eateries that covers a range of options such as: Vietnamese, Icelandic, Italian food [Flatey Pizza!-yum], as well an Ice Cream parlour and a bar. It’s an informal place to eat and drink- perfect for families.
On a budget ?
Self catering will save you loads and Bonus and Krónan supermarkets are dotted around Reykjavik and are a good affordable [ish] option. A meat or fish soupy lunch with bread in a cafe can be pretty filling [see below]. A pizza dinner is pretty well priced and the pizza’s at Kex and Flatey pizzas are excellent. You can also pop in to a bakery for something sweet or savoury. The colourful Brauð & Co near Hallgrimskirkja is a good option and so is Sandholt on Laugavegur.
You can grab a hotdog [or two] at the famous and incredibly popular Baejarins Beztu stand in the old town not far from the harbour. [Ask for a hot dog with everything!]. Petrol stations often sell hot food to take away or eat in and they can be a good option too.
You can also save money by downloading the ICELANDIC COUPONS APP which has some generous discounts.
Soup in a bread bowl
Icelandic meaty, tomatoey, mushroomy or fishy soup is yummy. Many tourists wish to search out the famous Icelandic Soup in a bread bowl. I have tried it and I can confirm it’s soupy and is served in a bread bowl which does save on the washing up. It’s filling and tasty but the bottom of the bread bowl does go a bit soggy. There’s a few options in Reykjavik with Svarta Kaffið and Icelandic Street Food being the most popular. Watch my mate Niall’s video to find out more-
And finally -few words on Hakarl [Fermented shark]
Hakarl has been described by the chef Anthony Bourdain as “the single worst, most disgusting and terrible tasting thing he had ever eaten” If that does not put you off and you want to be brave [or foolhardy like me] and wish to try the infamous local delicacy Hakari, several places do serve it.including Íslenski barinn.
If you do not wish to try this [and I do not blame you], here is my personal opinion on the dish:
The shark came served as a small sugar lump sized cube. It’s the smell that hits you first, a putrid, acrid smell of stale piss that makes you gag if you breathe in [not advisable]. The texture is like a squash ball, possibly a little less chewy, but I have not eaten a squash ball for some time. The highlight is definitely the shot of Brennivin which does offset the weird numb sensation in ones mouth.
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