Nineteen floors up in the air is high enough so that you have to pop your ears on the elevator trip down again. You should try it sometime. The lunch restaurant 19. hæðin, located on the 19th floor of the Smáratorg tower obviously, is likely to affect other senses just as much.
Let’s begin with the eyes. 19 floors up in the air, this place is as much a visual feast as a culinary one. The view stretches far and wide and on a clear day you’ll be pretty impressed. But the view is hardly enough to drag you into a restaurant. Especially one that is not open for dinner. That would most likely be the taste buds. And again, 19. hæðin delivers. On weekdays, the restaurant offers a blend of hot and cold dishes in a buffet manner that will satisfy most occasions. On weekends, however, the staff pull out all the stops to create an exquisite brunch collection that will keep you sated well into next week, for a very modest 2650 ISK a head.
Opening with sea-food soup and a variety of salads, my trusted photographer and myself quickly moved on to a more breakfast based combo of bacon and eggs, followed by syrup laced pancakes and juice. We then decided to sample the luscious steaks on offer. The lamb proved to be better than the veal, but both were excellent. Although overstuffed like Thanksgiving turkeys, we managed to make our way to the dessert table where a selection of fruits, cream, cakes and custard awaited. With some hesitation I decided to risk a little custard pudding and some chocolate cake to go with the paper-thin crème brûlée, which mostly consisted of the sugary crust that is the sole reason crème brûlées exist in the first place.
With our stomach walls about to split open, we hightailed out of there before doing ourselves any more damage.
- WHERE Smáratorg 3, Kopavogur, Tel: 575 3000
- HOW MUCH 2500 – 3000 ISK
- WHAT WE THINK Great and surprisingly affordable weekend brunch.
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