Author: Ragnar Egilsson
Ragnar’s Secret Solstice Hangover Diary
Thursday: The madness begins It’s that Solstice time again! Whoop whoop (family!) Thursday was as soft segway into a festival…
Thanks For All The Fish: A Reykjavík Foodie Tours Five Akureyri Fast Food Joints
Whether it’s Scottish “munchie boxes” or Canadian poutine, there’s something about cold northern climates that makes people embrace a grease-up…
Matartíminn Magical Mystery Meal: Dill & Solfin Tour The Arctic Island Palate
Matartíminn is a series of pop-up events orchestrated by Dill, Iceland’s first Michelin star restaurant, and Kex Hostel. Each event…
Burro: Crickets & Cocoa Puff Cocktails At The Latin Fusion Disco
Burro is a pan-Latin tapas place from the people who brought us Public House. My most recent visit happened to…
Matwerk Doesn’t Reinvent The Wheel… But It Werks
I dodge the diagonal raindrops of Rey-jah-vik’s spring through the glass front of the former hair salon turned upscale Nordic…
New Italian Reykjavík
Whether it’s Mario Batali and Oscar Farinetti kicking off an unstoppable food hall trend with Eataly or dumping a Berlusconi…
Pining for Pipes and Piping Hot Haggis? Look Nae Further: Scotland Comes To Kex
Kex holds an annual festival celebrating Scottish culture in all its tartan regalia (sans the Begbie pint glass throwing). This…
Restaurant Review: Borðið
Do we still call it gentrification even if the only people being displaced are oil tank security guards and struggling…
Rok Review: A Big-Ass Celery Near Everyone’s Favourite Church
Rok is a beautiful building. It’s understated and unobtrusive, and its architecture references the turf-roofed houses that once dominated Iceland,…
Get Outta Town: A Guide To Dining Outside Of Reykjavík
by Shruthi Basappa, Ragnar Egilsson and John Rogers
It used to be the case that good restaurants, after leaving the confines of Reykjavík, were pretty slim pickings. These…
Eating Ice: Why On Earth Do Icelanders Love An Al-Fresco Winter Cone?
Visitors to Iceland often remark on how, throughout Iceland’s frozen winter season, they’ll often see clusters of locals standing in…
Guide: So What Exactly Is New Nordic Cuisine?
Depending who you listen to, the New Nordic Cuisine culinary movement might be alive, dead, or both—but one thing’s for…
Merry Orange-Malted Salmon: A Visit To The Latest In A Long Line Of Basements
Matarkjallarinn sits nestled in the cosy basement of Aðalstræti 2, a 160-year-old building in the heart of downtown Reykjavík. Prior…
Food Review: Servers Squared, Peaks Squared
There were three of us there that night and all we realised that during our lives, we had approached the…
Fun With Icelandic Names! – Ragnar Egilsson Explains Words!
Most Icelandic names have some cool, ancient symbolism. My name, Ragnar, means something like “Soldier of God” (no biggie). The…
Last Year In Food: A Grumpy Glutton’s Guide
To mark the New Year, I am giving you what I give my friends every year: opinions. Opinions are like…
Eulogy for Asia (The Restaurant, Not The Continent)
After 27 years in business, the owners of pan-Asian take away joint Asia are closing their doors for good. The…
“RASSGAT” – Ragnar Egilsson Explains Words!
So we have a word, which is this word: “rassgat”. It 100% literally means “asshole”, as in “the hole part…
The Icelandic Christmas Buffet – Explained, Explored, Expanded
The Icelandic Christmas buffet is all about tradition. December is a time where you head out with your family or—more…
“FERTUGSALDRI” – Ragnar Egilsson Explains Words!
When referring to a person’s age (the verb is “dilapidating”), we sometimes refer to the decade of existence that person…
Nazi Acid Zombies Leave Icelandic Police Concerned
Local news outlet DV, enemies of corporate conflicts of interest and paragons of journalistic virtue, reports a wave of Nazi-themed…
Cruising At Caruso
My gay-for-pay date for the evening was looking very happy with his meal. His manly physique was wrapped in an…
Matur Og Drykkur: Whole Cod Heads And Licorice Pancakes
If you have your heart set on traditional Icelandic food with some creative flourishes, then there are three places worth…
Bjórgarðurinn Is A Fancy-Pants Beer Hub For Serious Beer Pervs
Bjórgarðurinn (“The Beer Garden”), Iceland’s first self-styled… beer garden, opened for business in Borgartún, 105 Reykjavík, this June. The latest…
Icelandic Vikings: More Portlandia Than Pirate Paradise
The above photograph shows a recreation of the fictional construct celebrating violence in front of the very real institution of…