​Sjávargrillið, Reykjavík

 If you go to trip adviser and check what is the first restaurant listed for Reykjavik you will find ​Sjávargrillið. A place with so much good publicity was to be tried. Due to the little fuzz around the place, the only way to get a table for diner is currently to book ahead. So we went to ​Sjávargrillið with high expectations.

The place is located in the very centre of Reykjavík, you will pass by it many times, if you are sight seeing or shopping in the centre. The place is relatively small and decorated in a a kind of bistro hype style (the bow ties on the coaches are a good find).

We went for some of their full diner menu sets, because this was was suppose to be our (one of) the best food experience in Iceland. 

The Fish feast in one hand, which consisted of a shellfish soup as starter, the fish of the day and some white chocolate mousse threat for dessert. On the other side of the table we went for the so called 'Taste of Iceland' menu: a small sea food appetizer, a starter plate with what I will call 'forbidden' meat, an amazing Lamb dish and a Icelandic chocolate cake for dessert.

The fish menu was fine, no doubt on that, but wait a minute, wasn't this suppose to be the best place in Reykjavík? Then we have to admit that the fish dishes were only average. The presentation of the dishes is something they should improve a bit. The presentation is messy and the food journey lost a bit of its wonder.

About the 'Taste of Iceland', that is tricky one. What I called 'forbidden plate' consist of the main tourist meat attractions, puffin and Minke Whale. To be honest I will remember this dish forever, but not because I had an amazing food experience, but because afterwards I realized that even if whale meat does taste good (let's be honest), it is mostly hunted and prepared in restaurants in Iceland because of the tourists. And all this cause big damages to environment.

Another sad thing is that the Minke Whale meat tends to be one of the cheapest meat in the most of the restaurants. The reason is that it is cheaper to hunt these animals than to grow cattle on the island. That's not right. If you are interested in whales, more in their real habitat rather than in your plate take a look to www.elding.is.

But let's talk back about the food.

The lamb course was probably the highlight of the evening. An amazingly tasty piece of lamb. Sometime soft  sometime crispy that was just delicious. Icelandic lamb is the best I ever tasted so far (but I found even better lamb dishes in other places around the island).

A small comment about the desserts: They were fine, but again we were expecting more from this place. For a chocolate lover, the chocolate cake was tasting very mild while I was expecting chocolate explosion in my mouth.

And last but not least, let's have a word about the service. First of all let's say here that Reykjavík restaurant scene seems to have a problem with its waiters and waitresses. It's not like the parisian waiter who won't even smile and be mean on purpose, it's just that even if they try hard sometimes to act professional there is this kind of distance which makes you feel that they don't really care about you as a customer. Also, the biggest issue we found with the service was the speed at which the dishes were brought. Kind of express service. We even observed that on some neighbors tables some warm dishes were brought to table while customers were outside for a smoke. 

As a conclusion, if you want to save money in Reykjavík, you can skip this place, it is not anything you will remember forever. As a matter of fact, by talking with many Icelanders, this place is mostly filled up with tourist, not with locals. So remember the basic rule of 'always go where locals are going'!

Café SÓLON, Reykjavík

One of the place you won't miss, if you are walking up and down Reykjavík main streets in city centre.

Café SÓLON is a brasserie type of place and also a art gallery. That's a good spot to grab a soup or a sandwich before you head to some afternoon excursion for example.

Their club sandwiches are massive and very tasty. You'll find Turkey, chicken and bacon in there, served with french fries, enough to feed a man for the day. Thee bagels are also a very good option there.

By the time we went there in the early spring, it looked a bit like a toursits place, but locals talk also about this place so when the summer days are coming it might be a pleasant place to have a fast and affordable simple meal. And more thing to add here, the staff is actually quite friendly and helpful!

Grillmarkaðinn, Reykjavík

Grillmarkaðinn (Grill Market) is one of the the best rated food place in Reykjavík at the moment, so we went to check it out.

The place is located in a nice old building in the very centre of Reykjavík. The walls are decorated with fish skins and it has a very nice design spiced with the cool atmosphere. The main part of the kitchen grill is open to the customers on the upper floor (the place has also more room downstairs), so as it is the trend now you can have a look on how your meal is prepared, if you like it.

If you plan to go there in the evening they recommend that you book a table ahead, we went there for lunch and no reservation was needed then.

The menu offers mostly products from local producers, and in most of case it is organic grown. Have a look to their website, there are interviews of the farmers, some may give you a smile (my favorite being the story from the skyr farmer and his motivation to start his business).

The menu offers a choice of meat and sea food, along with the typical tourist meal which is minke whale meat (see the post about Sjávargrillið, if you want to know more about minke whales. The post will be published in the end of the week).

So we went for the beef burger on one side and some monkfish and vegetables grill skewers and salad in the other. The burger was good, but to my taste the meat was too minced. Perhaps it was either made of a too good piece (not much fat to tied it up) or there was some liver part added to the meat. Nevertheless, the bun was sweet and crispy, and the fries coming along simply gorgeous. But that did not make it the best burger in town.

The skewers were very tasty. Especially the monkfish skewer melted in the mouth. Because mademoiselle was advised to take at least two skewers (they are rather small) the strong taste of grill sauce started be overwhelming. All this plus the dish dish salad, mademoiselle was very well eaten. So, this time we skipped desert. 

As a overall it a good place to have a meal, but we were a bit disappointed by the service, which seems to be a general trend in many places around Reykjavík. A very friendly and professional doorman will be waiting to sit you at the entrance, but then the waiters and waitresses seem a bit disorganized and not really dedicated to their job. Not really helpful in your choice, just giving you enough smile that you don't feel offended, but taking ages to answer your requests. The main issue we encountered was with the check which tooks long time to come and even longer to get sorted and paid.

We still do recommend the place, the food is good there and the place looks like they try very hard to give it a personality. Next time we want to try the place at the dinner time. Improvement on the service is the next challenge for Grillmarkaðinn.

Happ, Reykjavík

Graving for a health snack or a green smoothy in Reykjavik?

Happ is the place.
Located right in the centre, 5 minutes walk from the harbor, you will find here plenty of good sandwiches  salads, homemade juices and smoothly. They have also published a cooking book filled with the information of their food ideology. You can find the book, named after the restaurant, from the local book stores.

The place itself looks like a nice nordic café, and the staff is international and friendly.

We had some 'ready to run' veggie sandwich and a lamb sandwich, and this was exactly what we were expecting for a quick and cheap lunch in the Icelandic capital.

KEX hostel, Reykjavík

Iceland is for sure becoming the next 'place to be'.

In the past 10 years Reykjavík has expanded a lot, with s short break during the 2008 crisis. But Since a couple of years new places like KEX Hostel have been popping up, and more are to come. Only during the year 2013 four new hostels are going to be opened.

Kex is located on the sea front of Reykjavik, almost in the centre. The place occupies 3 floors of what was in the past a biscuit factory, the ground floor being occupied by a gallery museum.

The owners of the place definitely put a lot of effort to make this place look like a home for all people coming here. It looks and feels at the same time like a great base-camp for backpackers, a nice boutique hotel (you could find this kind of place in Berlin or Brooklyn) and it simply serves as a local bar for people living close to it. Our friend, who happens to live just a block away from KEX, calls it as his living room. We perfectly understand that!





The place offers to all very nice Breakfast. Notice: not only for the hotel guests. It has all what you expect to get in a Nordic country as a breakfast (porridge, breads, ham, veggies, jam, musly, eggs, juice coffee, fruit juice...) plus the special icelandic touch, skyr.

If you never been to Iceland before and you arrive late at night, the breakfast at KEX in the morning will set your mood up for your whole stay. Big bonus is that you can enjoy it facing the sea and a beautiful mountain Esja.

KEX is also a bar/brasserie and along with the dry cat fish that you can order with your beer, they have a selection of quite descent and affordable food. Their burgers are among the best we tried in Reykjavík. The good thing is that the place tries as much as possible to use seasonal products. Of course we are in Iceland so in the winter they do some exceptions. Even if you are not staying there in the hostel, the place is worth of stopping by one evening. Have a beer with friends there, have some good simple food, and enjoy their (almost) daily music happening.

Indeed almost every night there is either a free concert in the bar/restaurant hall or a more 'organized' gig in their small concert hall.

Last but not least, few words about the Hostel itself. It stays relatively affordable (yes, this is Iceland), even more in off seasons where prices are cut by half. KEX offers accommodation from the large 16 people dorms for backpackers, to the family dorms (big bed for daddy and mummy and bunk beds for the tribe), and to finish with their 'suits', 2 person bedrooms with private bath and sea views. All rooms are decorated in a industrial/vintage look with old school maps from all over the world.

The staff at the reception of the hotel is extremely friendly and helpful. The staff at the bar is also friendly at the breakfast time, but turned back to Reykjavik standarts later (meaning you will get what you want but don't be offended, if some bartender don't seem to care at all about you).

As a conclusion a great place to stay over or simply to visit for a beer or gig, if you are in Reykjavík.