Where to eat in Reykjavík: local dishes, markets and neighborhoods

Reykjavík is small enough to walk between these areas, so the real choice is what you want to spend and how much time you have. Use the table to pick a plan, then read the detail below.

Downtown (Miðborg), around Laugavegur and Skólavörðustígur, holds most of the restaurants visitors picture: modern Nordic kitchens, seafood rooms and cafés. It is also the most expensive part of town. Walk ten minutes east to Hlemmur square and you reach the Hlemmur food hall, a former bus terminal with several counters under one roof — useful when one person wants fish and another wants pizza, and no reservation is needed.

Grandi, the old harbour district just west of the centre, is the other cluster worth knowing. It has the Grandi food hall plus seafood restaurants close to where the boats land, and it is a short walk from the centre along the waterfront. This is where to go if fish is the point of the meal.

For everyday eating, locals lean on bakeries and the pylsa. The Icelandic hot dog is a lamb-pork-beef sausage with raw and fried onion, ketchup, mustard and remoulade, sold from stands and kiosks for a fraction of a restaurant main. Bakeries sell skyr, kleinur and sandwiches through the morning and are the cheapest way to start the day. Supermarkets — Bónus and Krónan are the budget chains — cover self-catering, which matters if you are heading out on a road trip.

The dishes to order are the ones the country facts list: kjötsúpa (lamb soup with root vegetables), plokkfiskur (mashed cod or haddock with potato, onion and béchamel on rye bread), pan-fried or smoked Arctic char, and skyr with berries. Hangikjöt on flatbread and harðfiskur with butter are snacks rather than meals. Fermented shark (hákarl) turns up mainly at midwinter Þorrablót feasts; one cube is enough for most people.

Vegetarian food is easy in Reykjavík and harder once you leave the city, where soup and pizza are the usual fallbacks. Vegan options are good in the capital and supermarkets stock plant-based products. Halal and kosher choices are limited, so plan ahead.

Eating out is the biggest daily cost in Iceland after transport. The table above gives the range; the practical moves are to take the lunch menu instead of the dinner menu, use bakeries and hot dog stands for one meal a day, and buy breakfast from a supermarket. Tap water is free everywhere and is what locals drink — bottled water adds cost for no benefit.