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Hornið
There's an easy-going air at this bright Art Deco café-restaurant, with its warm terracotta tiles, weeping-fig plants and decently spaced tables. Pizzas are freshly made before your eyes, the prettily presented pasta meals will set you up for the day, and you can sample traditional Icelandic fish dishes.
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Humarhúsið
Understated and utterly elegant, the Lobster House is justly celebrated for its succulent shellfish, langoustine and lobster. Although crustaceans feature in most dishes, you can also sample game, fish, lamb and beef; plus there's a vegetarian option for that awkward critter in your dining party.
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Indian Mango
This new restaurant specialises in Goan food, serving beef, duck, fish and some veggie mains. Its chef - poached from a five-star restaurant - makes up light, spicy, delicious dishes. Its bestselling creation is an Icelandic-Indian hybrid completely unique to this restaurant - svartfugl (guillemot) marinaded in Indian spices (around Ikr2000 ). The only downside is the furniture, crammed in higgledy-piggledy and creating a rather chaotic atmosphere.
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Kaffi Hljómalind
This commendable organic and Fair Trade café is run on a not-for-profit basis. It looks like a 1950s home with 1970s flourishes (prayer flags, patterned chairs, hand-painted cups and saucers), and is a meeting-place for Reykjavík's radicals. Wireless hotspot.
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Kaffi Mokka
Reykjavík's oldest coffee shop is an acquired taste. Its décor hasn't changed since the 1950s, and its original mosaic pillars and copper lights either look retro-cool or dead tatty, depending on your mood! It has a very mixed clientele - from older folk to tourists to trendy young artists - and a selection of sandwiches, cakes and giant waffles.
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Kaffi Sólon
Decked out with white-leather seats and oversized artwork, this ultracool bistro (and nightspot) offers tasty international dishes at reasonable prices. There's a separate 'health' menu with calorie-lite meals, and veggies should head here for the best quiche in town. Wireless hotspot.
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Kaffitár
Another of the modern breed of coffee shops, Kaffitár has opted for barristas, flavoured syrups, merchandised mugs and Italian biscuits by the till. The service is personal, and there's even a small play area for toddlers. It's a wireless hotspot, and there's a branch at the Kringlan shopping centre.
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Kebabhúsið
When you've overdone the fried meat, Kebabhúsið offers falafel and fish and chips (around Ikr800 ).
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Kofi Tómasar Frænda
Subterranean Koffin has a studenty feel. Relax with magazines and a snack (nachos, lasagne, sandwiches, cakes or chocolate-coated marzipan) and watch disconnected feet scurry along Laugavegur. At night the place turns into a candle-lit bar with DJs. It's a wireless hotspot.
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Kornið
Bakery handy for the City Hostel and camp site. There's another branch at Lækjargata 4.
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Kornið
Central bakery, open till in summer. There's another branch at Hrísateigur 47.
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Krua Thai
Look beyond the simple interior to the tasty food: here you'll find genuine recipes, popular with Thai residents of Reykjavík. The glossy photo-menu shows soups, spicy salads, curries and stir-fries; you order at the counter, and generous, freshly-cooked dishes appear looking just like they do in the snaps.
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La Primavera
Pizza Hut it ain't. This is a cultivated eatery serving contemporary Italian dishes - the pastas, gnocchi and polenta are all homemade. The menu is select, with some imaginative combinations - for example, pan-fried scallops with pomegranate and lime.
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Lauga-Ás
For 27 years this small, friendly restaurant, close to the City Hostel, has been quietly cooking up great-tasting grub. It's particularly well-known for its seafood soup and lobster but also serves deceptively large portions of pasta, steaks and lighter meals. Book ahead on Friday and Saturday night.
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Litli Ljóti Andarunginn
Descend into this old wooden building to sample home-style cooking in cosy candle-lit surroundings. This relaxed bar-restaurant serves hearty Icelandic food at reasonable prices. Between May and October its nightly all-you-can-eat fish buffet is good value.
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Lækjarbrekka
This top-notch restaurant has built up its reputation over 20 years, cooking traditional Icelandic dishes (game, lobster, juicy pepper steak and mountain lamb) with half an eye on the tourist dollar. From June to August it puts on a high-quality fish buffet every evening from .
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Maru
Sushi is the focus of this stylish restaurant, which uses fresh Icelandic fish to create dainty Japanese dishes. It also serves up all manner of miso soups, rice-noodle dishes and yakitori (Japanese kebabs), and there's a pleasant amount of choice for vegetarians. Eat in with moonlike lampshades glowing overhead, or make use of the takeaway service.
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Múlakaffi
Múlakaffi has recently been renovated, but the shining-white walls and brand-new tables can't disguise its old-fashioned soul, and the clientele is still 100% working men. Hearty local meals such as meatballs, salt cod, roast pork and rye bread are dished up from the hotplate.
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Ning's
A mouthwatering smell of frying pork greets you at this Chinese fast-food restaurant, handy for the City Hostel. There's a good, cheap menu of noodles and stir-fries, and the cooking is MSG-free. The set lunch is very popular at lunchtime, or there's a takeaway counter.
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Nuðluhúsið
City workers flock to this good-value Thai place for spicy lunchtime hits of spring rolls, curry and a huge selection of noodle dishes. There are a few basic tables, plus a handy takeaway.
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Ömmu Kaffi
Friendly faces greet you at this cosy nonsmoking coffee shop. A short list of edibles includes soup, lasagne, cakes and Icelandic doughnuts, and there are some unusual coffees on offer. Grab a paper or zone out to the mellifluous sound of live jazz (Thursday).
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Perlan
Perched on top of the city's water tanks is the revolving restaurant Perlan, which spins at one sedate revolution every two hours. The views are superb, and, if you can tear your eyes away from the city-and-mountain vista, the grub (reindeer, lamb, flounder, guillemot) isn't bad either. [Whale meat served.]
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Ristorante Ítalía
One of the better Italian options, this family-run place has a proper wood-fired pizza oven, and good pasta and secondi piatti (mains). It's a romantic option for a candle-lit dinner.
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Siggihall
Run by Iceland's most famous TV chef, this upmarket seafood restaurant is regarded as one of the finest in Reykjavík. The menu features plenty of fishy favourites, with Icelandic-Mediterranean fusion dishes taking precedence. Siggihall is best known for its bacalao , served in different styles.
