Gourmet weekend in Reykjavík

May contain traces of advertising.*

Mid-June in Reykjavík

We had actually planned a quiet weekend in Reykjavík. After my other half went hiking in Iceland in June for the last two years and had previously celebrated the national holiday, June 17th, in the city, I really wanted to experience this holiday myself. (My husband was then allowed to go hiking alone again.) So we wanted to go there together over the weekend: arrive on Friday evening, look around a bit on Saturday, there are still parts of Reykjavík that we don't know yet, and also go swimming a bit and so on - and then on Sunday for the official Independence Day celebrations.

But then my husband came up with the idea - if it was just the two of us going to Iceland, we could actually write to a few local restaurants and bars asking if they would like to invite us to dinner if we then wrote about it in the blog. We already have the “Eating out in Iceland ” section on the blog, so why not expand it a bit and collect material for it?

We chose different and very different places that we had noticed before, that we had heard about, had seen pictures of food, or that sounded exciting for some other reason. And many responded and actually invited us.

So this weekend we were able to test six different places, very different types, and get to know lots of different people who really do what they love and love what they do. And my husband was able to swim and eat again and finally go out for dinner again on the last evening in Reykjavík.

So we had an absolutely brilliant weekend in Iceland. And of course we still celebrated the national holiday properly.

And we also went swimming - on Saturday morning we stood on the mat at Suðurbæjarlaug in Hafnarfjörður as soon as it opened at 8 a.m., together with many locals who all knew each other and greeted and chatted. The cashier was very surprised that we wanted to buy tickets instead of holding out the season ticket like everyone else. And after swimming we continued with breakfast in Hafnarfjörður.

On Friday evening we had a very good meal and then went to bed very full and very tired.

On Saturday, after swimming in the morning, we had breakfast in a book café in Hafnarfjörður.

At lunchtime we were invited to Grandi Mathöll, the new food hall at the old harbor in Reykjavík in a former fish factory.

And for dinner we went to a restaurant that is also an active cultural center.

On Sunday we were busy with the national holiday. Luckily, after being completely rained out, we were invited to the café for coffee and cake.

And dinner was another special highlight for me, as the owner of the restaurant is an Icelandic TV chef whose cookbook I have often and enjoyed cooking from!

On Monday my husband went swimming alone in the afternoon in a newly opened swimming pool at the most water-rich hot spring in Iceland and then ate in the restaurant, all at the invitation of the house.

After his hike, my husband was invited to a 7-course meal on his last evening in Reykjavík.

The reports about the individual restaurants and bars will follow here in the next two weeks, I'm already busy writing!

* Legal notice:

Technically speaking, this is advertising because we were invited to dinner. But we only went to restaurants and bars that we had previously heard good things about and that we found exciting - for a variety of reasons. In that respect, we were honestly thrilled and when we burst into praise, we really mean it.



[Translated from here.]