Eating in Reykjavík is a thrill. Every visit brings me new restaurants to experience, and wonderful new chefs and dishes. Below are some of my favorites. These places range from the sublime (and Michelin-starred or soon to be) to the lowly pylsur—the Icelandic hot dog. There's something for everyone here, including vegetarians. Dig in.

Because of the massive changes that have gone on since Covid started, I’m changing the format to a list — it’s been hard to keep up, so I’m going to try and keep a running list of my favorites.

Event Dinner

This is an elite group of restaurants that are high-end, and where the experience of dining there is part of the event. These places are expensive and small, and they tend to fill up quickly. Make reservations weeks or months in advance.

• Óx: a fantastic multi-course (13 one time, 20 the last day I went) experience at a 16-seat restaurant on the main street hidden behind a “speakeasy”. Superb, must try. Óx now has a Michelin star as of July 2022!

• Dill: Excellent New Nordic, veg friendly, Michelin starred. Great tasting menu.

• Matur og Drykkur: “Food and Drink” in Icelandic. Named after the cookbook of traditional Icelandic fare. They do that, but elevated to modern tastes.

Dinner

Some of these restaurants have tasting menus, which I always highly recommend.

• Brút: an upscale, bright, beautiful space with beautiful fish dishes (they do have vegetarian dishes). A quick favorite (executive chef had a Michelin star when he was at Dill). A year on, and Brút is still hitting the high notes. Highly recommended.

• Grillmarkaðurinn: “Grill market”. Best of Icelandic meats (if you want puffin, whale, or reindeer, this is the place to go). The tasting menu is outstanding and a pretty good deal (8-courses for roughly $110)

• Fiskmarkaðurinn: “Fish market”. Same chefs as above, focused on fish. Best sushi in town. Tasting menu is also great.

• Hosiló: this place is a must. Incredibly well cooked food and a small menu (usually two starters, three mains, two desserts). Take a friend or two and order the whole menu and share. They don’t cook anything twice, with a new menu every Thursday.

• Hnoss: Inside the beautiful Harpa. Local, sustainable ingredients, and a fresh menu. The lamb tartare is outstanding, and so is brunch. Good vegetarian and vegan options.

• Monkeys: Peruvian, I went the day after they opened, and I was very impressed. Still very good after my second visit — do leave room for the dessert tower!

• Sjávargrillið: An old favorite with a menu of mostly grilled fish, haven’t had one bad thing here.

• Messin: Fish restaurant with huge portions. Skip the appetizers, order any fish pan that has tomatoes or olives in it, and get dessert.

• Sumac: Billed as small plates Lebanese-Moroccan, the food is good and the plates are not small. Order in batches lest you over order. Menu changes, but you won’t go wrong with lamb or pork, and the seafood is awesome. From the chef behind Óx.

• Mat Bar: Another favorite. Stunning plating and flavors to match. A must.

• Vox: A fancy hotel restaurant, with excellent food. A bit out of the way from the main strip, but worth the hike.

• Þrír Frakkar: Traditional, old fashioned Icelandic food. Plokkfiskur and puffin and everything in between.

• Snaps: French bistro in the heart of Reykjavík, food is good, but the atmosphere is better.

Food Halls

There are several food halls dotted around the downtown core: Grandi, Hafnartorg, Hlemmur, Posthus and Borg29. They offer a combination of good food, good prices, and communal space. Easier for bigger groups, or for families where everyone has a strong opinion on what they want. These are the highlights for me:

• Skál: “Cheers” in Icelandic. This bar-cum-fine-dining-restaurant is an outpost of the chef behind Slippurinn (see further below). Local ingredients, modern flavors and presentation. I eat here at least once a trip. At Hlemmur Mathöll. They’re about to move into their own restaurant space after years in the food hall [Sept 2024].

• Fjárhúsið: Burgers and meats, but the specialty of the house is the half a sheep’s head. Tasty, but you’ll get plenty of attention. At Grandi and Hlemmur. Not sure they’re still doing the sheep’s head…

• Flatey: Really good Neapolitan pizza, with almost no wait time. This is an outpost of the bigger, sit-down location on other side of town near Grandi. At Hlemmur Mathöll.

• Brand: a good burger and fries. At Hafnartorg.

• Lots of great options at Posthus, including Indian, Italian, and sushi.

Cheaper Fare

These restaurants and to-go locations all offer good eats for relatively cheap. I say relatively, because nothing in Iceland is cheap: workers get paid fair wages, and prices reflect that.

• Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur: Town’s Best Hot Dog. They’re not kidding. This is my favorite hot dog in the world. Must visit, especially late night. Get it with everything.

• Ramen Momo: Tibetan owners, excellent ramen. Tonkatsu is subtle and full of incredible flavors. The lamb ramen is also worth a try. They’ve recently opened a new location with a slightly different menu.

• Deig: “Dough”. Good doughnuts, best bagel in town. They have a great deal of a bagel sandwich and doughnut and drink for about $10.

• Le Kock: Good burgers, fried food, and cocktails, in the Exeter Hotel.

• Mama Rama: very good butter chicken. Regularly changing Indian menu. Moved into a new spot above Ægír brewpub.

• La Poblana: Really good, but very messy, tacos. Moved into a much bigger space. Reservations recommended.

• Bakabaka: bakery/pizza place from former owner of Brauð og co. Pastries are great. Pasta is ok. Really good pizza!

• Brauð og co: Bakery with outstanding croissants. The ham & cheese is good, but for a hit of salty goodness, nothing beats the pretzel croissant. Locations all over town.

• Sæta Svínið: Gastro pub with huge portions right in the heart of downtown. You’ll know it by the dressed up pig out front.

• Laundromat: A quirky Danish chain of casual diner food. WiFi password is “iloveyou”

• Cafe Loki: “Like my grandma made” (direct quote from a friend) Icelandic food. It’s right near Hallgrímskirkja, so a lot of people think it’s a tourist trap. It is not. Good home-style cooking, diner style.

• Prikið: Iceland’s oldest cafe, has a decent hangover breakfast, turns into a nightclub on the weekends

• Hamborgarbúllan: Tommi’s Hamburger Joint. Best smash burger and milk shake in town. Locations all over, including London.

• Sægreifinn: The Sea Baron. Divey little hole in the wall with great grilled fish, and the best lobster soup.

• Mandi: Good Middle Eastern fare. Good take out food, great hummus and falafel.

• Arabian Taste: Syrian food done well. Good take out, and you can eat their food across the street at Microbar if you want.

• Lamb Street Food: Middle Eastern inspired wraps

• Yalla Falafel: Apparently closed. Investigating. This makes me sad as it was, no joke, the best falafel sandwich I’ve had anywhere.

Bars and Ice Cream

Are you even Icelandic if you haven’t had an ice cream in the midst of a storm in the cold of winter? The bars below are skewed to beer, but there’s a lot of good bars out there (some of which are attached to the restaurants listed above).

• Micro Bar: The triumphant return of an original, now on Laugavegur 86. Lots of local brews on tap, friendly atmosphere.

• Skúli: A small, but popular craft beer bar with nice outdoor seating in good weather.

• Session: Big selection of craft brews, located perfectly for a break before hiking up to Hallgrímskirkja.

• Vínstukan Tíu Sopar: Excellent wine bar focused on bio and natural wines (from the owners of Brút)

• Amma Don: the team behind Óx strike again with an incredible cocktail bar. Open most nights that Óx is, and at the same location, you have to go after they’ve seated the dinner guests (after 1930).

• Slippbarinn: good food, but really good cocktails here. That said, I haven’t been in a while.

• Valdís: Good ice cream. Two locations, downtown and Grandi. If you’re adventuresome and/or a goth, get the licorice. A gray colored bit of delicious refreshment.

• Gaeta: Good Italian gelato, including lots of non-dairy options. Several locations.

Around Iceland

If your trip involves a rental car and some time in the Icelandic countryside, here’s my limited list of places to try.

• Slippurinn: Vestmanneyjar (Westman Islands). Superb food, on a beautiful island off Iceland’s southern shore. A mission-driven chef who relies on local foraging, fishing, and meat to create a sublime menu of traditional Icelandic food that’s been elevated to new heights. Only open for four months a year, during the summer. As a day trip, drive to Vík with a stop at the waterfalls along the way in the morning. Lunch in town, then carry on to the ferry (on foot, don’t take the car) to the Westman Islands. Wander through town, maybe see some puffins on the cliffs, then go to dinner here. Take the last ferry to the mainland and watch a stunning sunset on the water (if you’re lucky enough to go in late July or early August). You’ll be back in Reykjavík by 1a.

• Hotel Húsafell: Húsafell. I’ve not been, but I follow the chef on Instagram and a friend of mine used to work with him. The food looks stunning, and I cannot wait for my first visit there.

• Lava: The Blue Lagoon. They do a very tasty three course meal, and it’s nice to have lunch in your bathrobe.

A couple of notes to end on.

• Tipping isn't a thing in Iceland. Restaurant and bar staff are paid well, and no check will show a tip line. Think of it this way: the tip you leave in your home country is already accounted for in the cost of your meal (which should make the menu prices seem more reasonable).

• A lot of restaurants will have you pay at the counter. This is more prevalent for casual places. If you're done eating and they've cleared your plates but haven't asked if you want the check, you should take that as a sign to pay at the counter.

• Wherever possible, I’ve linked to restaurant’s English websites. Some restaurants don’t have websites. Many (most?) restaurants are on the Dineout app — easy reservations.

• This is my list. I’m a frequent visitor to Iceland, and I love my food and drink. I don't put restaurants on here because I'm paid or asked to do so. I do it because I've been and enjoyed them, or because I want to go and have heard good things. I am friends with more than one restaurateur, bar manager, or owner. I try to keep this page updated between trips, but … uh, life.

  First published in August 2018. Complete overhaul of the page in May 2022. Last updated August 2024.