There are guides and there are guides. Longevity sets us apart and for 20-plus-years we have dined, wined, ordered takeaways and visited spots once, twice, a dozen times in our quest to find the city’s best burgers, bakeries, brews and more.
The Best of Reykjavík dining category has always reflected reality and nothing warms our hearts more than to see Newcomers graduate to winners as the years go by. Now we have winners who will have the added recognition of being Reykjavík Institutions, a badge of honour to commend establishments that have stood the test of time — so keep an eye out for the *I as you peruse our lists of what’s Best.
Here’s to another year of deliciousness, skál!
Best Place For A Fancy Meal
Joint winners
Óx
Laugavegur 55
Your journey will begin at Amma Don, the speakeasy style, grandma-chic bar that acts as the library/living room whose secret bookshelf door leads to Óx. Over the next four hours, you are treated to a carousel of small plates of tweezered perfection, one of which will be a steamed loaf of sweet local rye bread. There were doubts if Óx’s intimate table-side seating would be lost when they moved to the new location with 17 seats, up from the original 11. More than a year later, such doubts have been laid to rest and the experience has grown from strength to strength with its focus on local ingredients where chef Þráinn Freyr borrows freely from global cuisines and techniques, rooting them to the island. At 66,000 ISK this is a splurge meal by all accounts (by comparison, a premium dinner at 3-Michelin starred Eleven Madison Park will set you back a few thousand short of 100,000 ISK) and given the proximity to the kitchen action, conversations with chefs and other guests and enviable beverage pairing, this is a meal to remember indeed.
Dill (I)*
Laugavegur 59
Photo by Art Bicnick
Iceland’s first Michelin-starred restaurant and recipient of an additional Green star, Dill paved the way for elevated Icelandic cooking that took pride in its own backyard pantry of ingredients and traditions. Working closely with purveyors, chef Gunnar Karl sketched a blueprint of what Icelandic cooking could be by looking inward. Today that vision has led to a sustainable, circular, waste-no-scrap approach to cooking — no small feat in fine dining establishments that are known to be particularly wasteful. The restaurant underwent a swift renovation, and the levelled-up experience and elegant, plush interiors with pronounced homages to Scandi classics underscore the restaurant’s ambitions to continue to surprise and delight guests. A special shout out to the renewed non-alcoholic pairing that came close to surpassing their wines, as well as the particularly intriguing desserts that feature wolffish. Yes, you read that right!
RUNNER-UP
Oto
Hverfisgata 44
Oto may not boast of a Michelin star, but their ambitions are set that high. Don’t pay attention to their continued claims of being Japanese and Italian. It is a loose interpretation that, once ignored, you can fully immerse yourself in the capable cooking of chef Sigurður Laufdal (niggling thoughts of fusion confusion notwithstanding). Chichi interiors are noir in the dining room, and cringe-Asian in the restrooms, but the food is tightly executed when they get it right — and they get it right often. The desserts are guaranteed to knock your socks off even before you’ve taken a bite (hello Amalfi lemon!), but the meh service is quick to bring you back to earth as a reminder that we are still in Reykjavík.
Previous Winners
2024: Dill & Óx
2023: Dill
2022: Dill
2021: Dill
2020: Grillið
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