Simbahöllin in Þingeyri

The café at the end of the world

The house "Simbahöllin" is an old Norwegian wooden house built in 1908 and "imported" to Iceland in 1915 by the merchant Sigmundur Jónsson (called "Simbi"). For the people of Þingeyri, here at the end of the world in the Westfjords, the house was so big that they called it "Simbahöllin", i.e. "the palace of Simbi".

The family ran their business in the house until the 1970s: Here you could buy groceries such as flour, sugar, eggs and meat, but also everyday items such as buttons, rubber boots and fishing utensils. The shop's specialty was homemade caramel (unfortunately the original recipe has been lost).

The house then served, among other things, as a video store and an electronics store, and perhaps some people also know it as the dusty old bookstore from the 2003 film "Noí Albinói", which was filmed here (other filming locations included Bolungarvík and Ísafjörður, also in the Westfjords).

A Belgian family later took over and renovated the house and now runs a very charming coffee house here in the summer months from mid-May to mid-September.

A large part of the old furnishings from Simbi's shop are now used again in the coffee house.

Here's a look at the menu (as of July 2018):

You can sit comfortably in the café or in the old bus that stands behind the house and is also used as a guest room. If the weather is good, you can also sit on the terrace next to the café on wooden chairs and at somewhat rickety wooden tables, like we did, and enjoy the sun.

The house specialty is Belgian waffles with whipped cream and rhubarb jam.

However, our children were not entirely enthusiastic about the Belgian waffles, especially since they were not enthusiastic about the rhubarb jam and some of the "naked" waffles tasted a bit too bland for them. But we thought they were nice with cream and jam!

And with such great weather, it's just fun to sit outside and eat waffles or cake.

[Translated from here.]