Volare serves easygoing, affordable Italian in a backyard house off the main street Laugavegur. Opened a couple of months ago, its character still has some growing to do, but at least the location—a crooked backyard house by a hidden little square—works well…

A couple of months after opening, The Fish Company caters its fusion kitchen to full cellars (reserve ahead). Despite the name, it serves up both sea and land based raw materials. The portions are built around herbs and spices selected from all…

Catharine Fulton: Hey Louder! What should we have for lunch today? Rebecca Louder: Hey Fulton! Let’s go to Nonnabiti! Fulton got the prawn sub, substituting mushrooms for green peppers and adding pickles to the bunch. Everything is good with salted pork. Louder…

Á næstu Grösum was the first vegetarian restaurant in town. It is now well into its second decade and has a loyal following and a bold branding strategy: on their street sign, Bill Clinton himself claims that this is the best restaurant…

Kryddlegin Hjörtu Skúlagata 17 What we think: Healthier stuffing for low cost Flavour: Hearty, fresh Ambiance: Highway-feng shui Service: friendly Opened almost exactly a year ago, restaurant Kryddlegin Hjörtu (Spicy Hearts) is currently busy preparing for its first birthday party. Inside, decoration…

Opened earlier this year, Íslenski Barinn (The Icelandic bar) is a mid-range restaurant serving Icelandic food, bistro style. With a purposely cheesy brand, cosy décor and a roofed terrace, it caters for 20-something beer drinkers (stocking all Icelandic beers) and tourists. The…

DOMO, Þingholtsstræti 5 (www.domo.is) What we think: Upscale sushi dinner with wonderful service Flavour: Western Ambiance: Black jackets, modern decor Service: Excellent Price per piece:  from 240 ISK up Dinner Sun-Wed 18-22, Thu 18-23, Fri-Sat 18-24 Rating: 3.5/5 DOMO serves a fine…

Opened in May, Ali Baba has quickly gathered a reputation as the good new kebab place. The Middle-Eastern menu is short and straight-forward: a handful of kebab portions (a döner spinning in the back of the desk), falafel, hummus and the eternal…

Opened in 2007, Fishmarket has already collected a Conde Nast Hot table listing, a Food and Wine Go list mention and a strong reputation among the locals. From fish skin in the rail to bamboo on the walls and a playful and…

“My mom made the menu!” Santa Maria owner Ernesto explained with a chuckle, going on to muse about a tiff that broke out between his mother and a trained chef as to the order in which onions and garlic should be added…

Ísbuð Vesturbæjar is quite a walk out of the city centre. And when you are finally getting near, with an ever-growing cavernous hole in your stomach begging to be filled with soft-serve, you have to squint to see the neon “Ísbuð” in…

Anybody who has ventured out to 105 in the wee hours of the morning knows that Devito’s is the place to be once the drunken charm of the other places in town has run its course, especially if you’re in the mood…

Have you ever eaten something particularly tasty and noticed a few hours down the road that you were still tasting it? Magnify that experience. Imagine still tasting that meal the next day. Such is the experience of indulging in the aptly named…

Hamburgers may not be traditional Icelandic fare, but when it comes down to it, it is no surprise that the fast food obsessed island hosts a brilliant burger joint. A sweet little hut by the harbour, Búllan is no secret – everyone…

A couple of months before Segurmo opened in Boston (the bar, not the city), sous chef Sigurdur “Siggi Shaker” Magnús Finnsson of the rock band Singapore Sling explained to the daily paper: “I’ve never cooked before. I am currently learning to cut…

Welcome to Iceland, folks! Did you enjoy some tasty Skyr and watch FRIENDS re-runs on the plane? God, that Joey’s a funny cat. Anyway, you must be gagging for a drink by now. Thus, we have dedicated this space to explaining the…

In Kópavogur, high up on the nineteenth floor of the Deloitte building, is Nítjánda, the baby of swank chef Sigurður Gíslason. It feels like an event, walking through the automatic turning doors, riding the elevator to the top of the building, and…

My initial thought after dining at freshman healthy food joint Saffran was to write that single unintelligible line and leave it at that. The food was so superbly prepared and shockingly delicious that I feared my words would not do it justice.…

The first Bulgarian restaurant in town, fast food joint Balkanika, opened just over a month ago to the joy of the 150 or so Bulgarians living in Reykjavík. After 2 years away from my previous country of residence, Montenegro, and with golden…

If you like fish, and you like fish a lot, Kitchen is the place for you.  It might be an added joy to know that you are given a bottom-less plate.  Hopefully you also have a bottom-less stomach – and a taste…

Opened in 2006 at the art deco Hótel Borg, restaurant Silfur initially served French cuisine, but has recently updated its menu to offer modern Icelandic fare in the spirit of the current local food trend and the financial situation. Bankers may have…

Rauða Húsið (“The Red House”) was built by the powerful and progressive Mrs. Guðmunda Níelsen in 1919 for her retail shop, which was at the time considered the trendiest of its kind in the region.     Ninety years later, after a side…