Vagninn

"The Wagon" - the pub of Flateyri 

May contain traces of advertisement.*

Flateyri is a little village on a small headland ("flat eyri") in the Önundarfjörður fjord. In 2012 Flateyri had 214 permanent inhabitants, but their number is continuously decreasing. Meanwhile officially only 184 people are living there permanently.

Due to this exodus, property prices in Flateyri fell. The abandoned houses became interesting for people from other parts of the country. They could buy houses for the summer relatively inexpensively and they started to renovate them. This was the beginning of a little boom. Meanwhile there is much life in Flateyri. When we were there, we noticed strikingly many people on the streets and children playing around.

Three couples, who originally had acquired summer houses in Flateyri and meanwhile live there permanently, bought in 2017 the old village pub. They wanted to breath new life into the pub and into the village. With the help of Karolina Fund, a crowdfunding organization supporting various projects in Iceland, financial means could be obtained to repair the pub's collapsed roof. So the pub could be put back in operation.

The pub is located at Flateyri's main street Hafnarstræti. It's named "Vagninn" (= "The Wagon") and describes itself as bar ("krá") and restaurant ("veitingahús"). 

On the weekends, Vagninn regularly hosts cultural events. On the day of our visit a circus show was presented in the evening. A few days later Góss, a band quite popular in Iceland, gave a concert. One week later followed the Icelandic singer-songwriter Ásgeir Trausti.

Upcoming ebvents in Vagninn

Whereas the pub looks a bit shabby from the outside, it's nice and cozy from the inside. It immediately reawakened memories of pub visits in our younger years. 

The music stage is directly next to the restaurant tables.

The guest area displays a plain design, bright and friendly.

The ceiling above the counter area is really fascinating with lots of banknotes from differnt countries of the world.

Vagninn offers a big variety of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.  

Nevertheless, we chose just water - after all we were there not just for fun, but for testing their food. 

For our dinner we selected for one thing house-style fish soup and secondly house-style fish. 

The "Fish Soup like no others" ("Fikisúpa Vagnsins") seemed exciting already while reading the menu: A classical soup with fish and prawns - but served with smoked rhubarb and sheep sorrel, in addition sourdough bread with two different dips. The bread itself was delicious, with the dips even more. But the soup was simply brilliant! So great and spicy, so rich in flavor and so yummy - simply perfect. 

The soup was decorated with a tortilla strip marinated with garlic and other spices. Smooth and crispy at the same time. A great idea! 

"This Fjord's Cod" ("Fiskur Vagnsins") is freshly caught cod topped with caviar. It is served with sweet potato purée, normal potatoes and lime sauce, in addition with a bit of broccoli cream, half a braised carrot, raddish slices and, once again, a tortilla strip. 

It was a dream. So many different textures, a mixture of hot and cold, of smooth and crispy, of sweet and sour. Really an exciting meal - and so delicious!

From our table we had a scenic view out of the window.

On our way back to Ísafjörður we had a short photo stop shortly after the village exit of Flateyri. Here in 1889 the Norwegian Hans Ellefsen erected the whaling station Sólbakki. It burnt down almost completely in 1901. Today you can find only some remains of the foundation walls in the grass - and the tower badly damaged by the ravages of time.

With a last look back we said goodbye to Flateyri. 

We really were delighted by Vagninn. The food was interesting, delicious and absolutely recommendable. Whenever you are in Ísafjörður or nearby, a trip to Flateyri to take a meal in Vagninn is definitely rewarding.

Overview:

The menu of Vagninn is short, but good:

There are two soups, the fish soup and a vegan mushroom soup, each for 2200 ISK (approx. 18 €, 20.50 $).

For the main course you can choose between "This Fjord's Cod" (3400 ISK, approx. 27.50 €, 32 $), "Plokkfiskur" (2900 ISK, 23 €, 27 $), a hamburger and a vegan burger (each for 2400 ISK, approx. 19 €, 22 $).

For children two meals are offered: firstly warm rice pudding with haggis and secondly home-made fishballs with potato and butter sauce, both for 950 ISK (approx. 8 €, 9 $).

As dessert you can get white chocolate skyr or rhubarb porridge, each for 950 ISK (approx. 8 €, 9 $).

When we visited Vagninn, it was well-attended. Hence we recommend to reserve a table in advance, when you want to dine there.


* Legal note: 

Formally this article can be graded as advertisement, since we had been invited for the meal. Anyhow, we have chosen only restaurants, which we had heard good things about and which we estimated as interesting. Accordingly we're really delighted, and if we fall into words of praise, these are meant honestly.