The Top 5 Restaurants in Reykjavik, Iceland
The Top 5 Restaurants in Reykjavik, Iceland
From fermented shark and sheep’s head to sour rams' testicles, it’s fair to say that the type of food Iceland is traditionally associated with can be described as adventurous. These bold dishes aside, what many people outside of Iceland may not realize, is that this small island country boasts a culinary scene that could soon be on par with the creativity of New York and San Francisco.
Chefs in Iceland are taking advantage of the area’s abundant wild game, seafood, and fresh local produce to breathe new life into Icelandic cuisine with their highly inventive dishes. From restaurants that give traditional foods a 21st century makeover (like The Fish Company) to eateries that fuse local ingredients with Italian traditions (like Kolabrautin), it’s easy to understand why Iceland is fast becoming known for its food.
After sampling the best of what Iceland has to offer, we can tell you this: Icelandic cuisine is many things, but one thing it isn’t? Boring. The menus being offered up by the below five restaurants prove it.
Fair warning before you book: we ate all five on one winter trip in February 2015, and every price on this page is what we paid at the time, not what anything costs now. Kolabrautin has closed since that trip and Perlan has stopped serving dinner — each of those sections says so. We have left both in, because the meals are still worth reading about.
“After sampling the best of what Iceland has to offer, we can tell you this: Icelandic cuisine is many things, but one thing it isn’t? Boring.
The Fish Company (Fiskfélagið)
A deconstructed take on traditional Icelandic dishes
The Fish Company doesn’t simply push culinary boundaries, it breaks them (pine needle ice cream anyone?). By deconstructing historic dishes from Iceland, the Fish Company remains true to regional traditions. Notable is the filet of cod with shrimp, apple slices and celery carpaccio; salmon with egg yolk cream, and fennel salad with estragon foam. Our standout favorite from the tasting menu, however, was the dessert: a soft spruce sponge cake served with Icelandic Skyr sorbet, salted caramel and whey cream, with lemon meringue and oatmeal crumble.
Read our full review here
Price Per Person: 8.900 ISK
Wine Pairing: Varies
Kolabrautin at the HARPA
Icelandic freshness breathed new life into Italian tradition
Located on the top floor of the HARPA concert hall, Kolabrautin gave guests the opportunity to dine inside the unique building’s award-winning architecture—complete with panoramic views of Reykjavik. With a regional take on traditional Italian fare, this fine dining restaurant took you on a culinary tour through Italy.
Our courses arrived in Italian order: salmon crudo with black radish, hazelnut milk and parsley oil to start; then gnocchi and pecorino with baked kale, pearl onions and smoked pine nuts; then Icelandic lamb alongside slow-cooked pork belly, turnips and charred onions; and Zabaione with puff pastry and crème fraîche ice cream to finish. Every course came with a small-production Italian wine, picked by Alba, who was the sommelier and general manager then.
We ate here in February 2015. Kolabrautin has since closed; the restaurant inside Harpa is now La Primavera.
Read our full review here
Price Per Person: 9.100 ISK
With Wine Pairing: 17.900 ISK
Lava at the Blue Lagoon
Icelandic dishes from an award winning Chef
Built into the side of a towering lava cliff and overlooking the Blue Lagoon, Lava Restaurant was run, when we ate there, by Head Chef Viktor Örn Andrésson, who had just won the 2014 Nordic Chef of the Year competition.
Their seasonal tasting menu features impressive dishes like arctic char with green apples and fennel, a delicious pan-roasted cod tossed in a creamy langoustine sauce, and perfectly cooked tenderloin served alongside wild mushrooms and Icelandic carrots. To end the meal, a savory dessert of Icelandic Skyr mousse with licorice-chocolate toffee ice cream was served, which stuns with its complex flavors and textures.
Read our full review here
Price Per Person: 9.200 ISK
Wine Pairing: Varies
Perlan
Visually stunning, and a dinner that is no longer served
Perlan sat inside a revolving glass dome on a hill above Reykjavik when we ate there, and it was one of the first fine dining rooms in the city. Chefs and locals called it the best restaurant in the country at the time.
Our tasting menu ranged well beyond Iceland: a warm salad of Jerusalem artichokes and arugula, then ling fish under shiitake, fennel and onion foam, then lamb, filet and shank on one plate, with hazelnut and celeriac purée. Dessert was Valrhona dulcey with coffee meringue, chocolate mousse, cherry sauce and delicate marshmallows.
We ate here in February 2015, and that dinner is not served any more. The dome is the Perlan nature museum now, and the restaurant under the glass is a casual daytime one — no dinner service and no tasting menu. We have not eaten the new version, so we are not going to tell you what it is like. The prices below are from that meal, not from the restaurant that is there now.
Read our full review here
Price Per Person: 7.390 ISK
With Wine Pairing: 13.890 ISK
The Grill Market (Grillmarkaðurinn)
A trendy restaurant with a hearty tasting menu
The Grill Market cooks Icelandic food with Asian flavors running through it. The eight-course tasting menu arrives family style, and every dish comes off fire, smoke, logs and coal. The kitchen buys direct from local farmers.
The grilled chicken wings were the standout — oyster sauce, house-made peanut butter and “popcorn.” After those, a spinach and mandarin salad with slow-cooked duck confit, and cod with chorizo, sun dried tomatoes, caramelized onion and couscous.
Read our full review here
Price Per Person: 9.400 ISK
With Wine Pairing: 17.900 ISK
