Reykjavík Restaurants

  1. Á Næstu Grösum

    This first-rate veggie restaurant, in a cheerful orange room overlooking Laugavegur, offers several daily specials. It uses seasonal organic veg, and inventive dressings guaranteed to give even lettuce new appeal. Things get extra spicy on Indian nights (Friday and Saturday), and organic wine and beer are available.

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  2. Apótek

    Apótek's cheerful café presents Asian food along with workaday staples such as ham sandwiches. The restaurant proper is all hard modern lines, softened slightly by velvet drapes and delicate Chinese-silk light shades. It's a little clinical, but the sophisticated Asian-Icelandic fusion dishes (such as grilled tuna with wasabi) are full of clean, sharp flavours.

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  3. Argentína

    This dark, fiery steakhouse rightly prides itself on its succulent locally raised beef - the best red meat you'll eat in Reykjavík. It also serves tender char-grilled salmon, reindeer, lamb, pork and chicken, with a wine list to complement whatever choice you make.

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  4. Askur Brasserie

    Close to the big hotels on Suðurlandsbraut, this relaxed family restaurant is popular with tourists and locals alike. Despite its noncentral location, it's wise to book on Friday and Saturday. There's a long menu of burgers, steaks, pasta, lamb, fish and sizzling fajitas, many of which come with soup and a free visit to the salad bar (loosen your belts). The weekday lunchtime buffet is good value.

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  5. Austur Indía Félagið

    The northernmost Indian restaurant in the world is an upmarket experience, with a minimalist interior and a select choice of sublime dishes (our favourite is the tandoori salmon). One of its finest features, though, is its lack of pretension - the atmosphere is relaxed and the service warm. Apparently this place is a favourite of Harrison Ford's - and who dares argue with Indy?

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  6. b5

    With its barely-there name (standing for Bankastræti 5), supersleek interior, and sketchpads in case you're seized by artistic inspiration, you might suspect this new bistro-bar of great pretentiousness. Thankfully, you'd be wrong: customers loll on the huge leather sofa wolfing down light Scandinavian-style bistro meals without the slightest hint of snobbery. On Friday and Saturday night it becomes a laid-back bar playing ambient tunes. Wireless hotspot.

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  7. Babalú

    More inviting than your own living room, this new café is übercute (if smoky). It only sells tea, coffee, hot chocolate and the odd crêpe, but once you've settled into one of its snug corners you won't want to move. In summer there's occasional live music.

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  8. Bakarí Sandholt

    A favourite old bakery on Laugavegur.

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  9. Bæjarins Beztu

    Icelanders are utterly addicted to hot dogs, and they swear the best come from Bæjarins Beztu , a van near the harbour patronised by Bill Clinton! Use the vital sentence Eina með öllu ('One with everything') for mustard, ketchup, remoulade and crunchy onions.

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  10. Café Cultura

    Cosmopolitan Cultura has scratched-up wooden floors, mosaic tables, and well-priced Asian, Mediterranean- and Arabic-influenced nosh - stir-fries, felafel, spicy meatballs and cous-cous cuisine. There's a tolerant attitude to kids. Free tango lessons start at on Wednesday, and it becomes a funky bar at weekends.

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  11. Café Garðurinn

    This tiny but tasteful veggie café is based round seven tables and the hum of civilised conversation. Choice is limited, but the daily soup and main are always delicious and unusual (we can vouch for the weird-sounding Catalonian tofu balls!). Half portions are available.

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  12. Café Konditori Copenhagen

    For pure cake porn, head to this café near the city hostel - Danish-influenced delicacies flaunt glazed strawberries, curls of chocolate and dribbled cream. It also does more prosaic sandwiches and good coffee, which you can consume from supercomfy leather seats. There's a branch at the Kringlan shopping centre.

    Read more about Café Konditori Copenhagen

  13. Café Ópera

    Soothing Café Opera, based upstairs in an old merchant's house, occasionally has a piano player tickling the ivories. The house speciality is the entertaining 'Hot Rock Fantasy' - sizzling meat or fish steaks that you get to 'cook' yourself on slabs of mountain granite.

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  14. Café Paris

    This old favourite has undergone a recent refit and is now better than ever - leather-upholstered chairs provide a level of bum-comfort previously missing. Although there's a selection of light meals - sandwiches, crêpes, tacos - people come here for coffee and cakes, and to check out the crowds.

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  15. Café Victor

    Victor is a scruffy beery-smelling bar-bistro reminiscent of an English pub (there's even an old red telephone box and premiership footy matches). British families gravitate here for lunch or early-evening meals - English breakfast, burgers, nachos and pizza, or more substantial spare ribs and seafood. At weekends its large spaces fill with drinkers and it turns into a big, loud club.

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  16. Einar Ben

    One of the city's finest restaurants, Einar Ben is frequented by diplomats and is renowned for its top-class service and gastronomical marvels. Dishes are Icelandic with a continental twist - think puffin terrine, and lamb Dijon with blueberries and thyme.

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  17. Eldsmiðjan

    Reykjavík residents are greatly devoted to the pizzeria Eldsmiðjan, tucked away on a quiet residential street. Its fiercely busy takeaway serves the best pizzas in the city, baked in a brick oven fired by Icelandic birch, or you can sit down to devour.

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  18. Emmessís & Pylsur

    The kiosk of Emmessís & Pylsur on Ingólfstorg sells ice cream and hot dogs.

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  19. Enrico's

    Low-slung coffee tables and leather sofas line the windows, with a more classical set-up at the back for evening dining. Prices are lower than you might expect from the décor, and the wide-ranging world menu contains some stomach-pleasing items. Lunchtime soups, salads, noodles and sandwiches are particularly good value.

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  20. Fljótt og Gott

    Inside the BSÍ bus terminal, this cafeteria serves burgers, sandwiches and 'food like Mum makes it': big roast dinners and Icelandic delicacies such as svið (singed sheep's head), plokkfiskur (creamy haddock and potato mash) and salt cod.

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  21. Food Court

    There's a food court upstairs in the Kringlan shopping centre.

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  22. Grái Kötturinn

    This tiny six-table café looks like a cross between an eccentric bookshop and a lopsided art gallery - quite charming! Opening hours are odd, but it serves breakfast from weekdays and weekends - toast, bagels, American pancakes, or bacon and eggs served on thick, buttery slabs of freshly baked bread.

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  23. Grænn Kostur

    Tucked away in a small shopping arcade off Skólavörðustígur, this friendly little café serves great-tasting veggie set meals, with a daily-changing menu. There are also lighter snacks such as pizza, pies and salads. The high round tables and bar stools aren't particularly relaxing, but it's worth sitting up straight for good food.

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  24. Hereford Steakhouse

    This modern 1st-floor steakhouse grills up top-class steaks (of beef, lamb, turkey, veal, whale), priced by weight and cut. You can pick from fillets, T-bones, rib eyes and entrecôtes, and watch as they're cooked at the grilling station in the centre of the dining room. There's a good red-wine list. [Whale meat served.]

    Read more about Hereford Steakhouse

  25. Hlölla Bátar

    The kiosk of Hlölla Bátar sells ice cream and hot dogs (around Ikr330 to Ikr790).

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