Eating in Iceland was not an easy thing to do, and that's mainly because of the cost. Before you even think about eating somewhere fancy, a meal at an inexpensive restaurant will cost you £20 and that's without any drinks or starters or any added extras. At prices like that, it doesn't make you want to go and find the best food out there, just any food that won't bankrupt you. Despite that, we still managed to find a couple of places to eat during our whirlwind trip there, and these are a few of my suggestions.
Firstly, our favourite restaurant while we were over there was definitely the Sea Baron, or Sægreifinn. In fact, even though we were only there for two days, we ate here twice. It wasn't horrendously expensive and the food was exceptionally good. Even though the decor reminded me slightly of a school skiing trip cafeteria and had a major hostel vibe going on, it was a brilliant place to eat. It wasn't horrifically expensive, there was some good choice and the portion sizes were good too. The original owner, Kjartan Halldórsson, used to be a fishmonger and still worked the grills until he died - a little lifelike statute of him remains in the seating area - and you can tell he was loved if you ever google this place. It still feels like it's a little family run business, who think more of the food than they do anything else.
On the first night we had some of the fish - which they serve on grill spears - and which were all fresh the sea around Iceland. It meant we got to try some salmon, some trout and some scallops. And they were all incredible. We also had some lobster soup to go with it, and this is basically what we went back for on our second night. Sægreifinn says it has the best lobster soup in the world, and actually, I can kind of believe it. We did have some other lobster soup while in Iceland, and it didn't come close to how this stuff tasted. It's worth going to this place for the soup alone and there's not many restaurants you could say that about. If you're ever in Iceland, make sure you stop and enjoy this place.
Another honourable mention for a place to eat in Iceland is Smakk Barinn, where we had Icelandic tapas. It was served in jars, which was utterly bonkers and felt like the place was trying a bit hard, but the food contained in jars was pretty good, and it was a great way to try Icelandic foods that maybe you wouldn't want to have whole portions of. This included puffin heart and hákarl, which is basically fermented shark. It was a little touristy, and not the cheapest meal, but still a great way to try some delicacies and have some lunch.
Finally, we picked up breakfast on our first day in The Laundromat Cafe. The food was quite mid range, as were the prices, but the pancakes I had were quite good. The main selling point of this place was the atmosphere. It was cosy, you never felt rushed and it was a perfect place to hide from the cold weather outside in Reykjavik. There's definitely something for everyone on the menu, and the decoration was pretty top too. Plus, you really can do your laundry there.
If you've ever been to any of these places, let me know what you thought!
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