Food Tour at the Old Harbour of Reykjavík

Bite-sized Iceland

I love exploring a city through culinary delights - even (and especially) when I already know the city quite well. In the summer of 2016 I took part in a culinary city tour of the “Reykjavík Food Walk”, and in the fall of 2021 I took part in a “Food Walk” through downtown Reykjavík, then together with my husband.

This time I asked my husband to take part in a culinary event again, and we ended up booking the "Old Harbor Food and Walking Tour", a food tour in the Old Harbor, through the "Get Your Guide" website.

We've already had a city tour through the city center, the "sweet cat tour" didn't fit the dates offered, and I wouldn't have much use for a distillery tour, I don't like alcohol. But we already know a little about Grandi, the old port area of ​​the city, especially with the diverse culinary offerings that have developed here in recent years. That sounded exciting, so we decided to go for it!

The tour currently costs 16,900 ISK per adult, so we paid 111 € (124 US-$) for each of us. There was really plenty of food and we got very full during the tour in a very pleasant way. The offer also specifically points out that it's not just a tasting, but that you can eat so much that you don't have to eat out again afterwards - we can completely confirm that! This price really covers a complete meal with drinks. If you consider that you pay around 20 € for a burger with fries in a very simple restaurant and around 11,000 ISK, i.e. more than 70 €, for a starter, main course and dessert with a beer in a good mid-range restaurant The price for the food tour is really fair - especially since there is a lot of different food.

The tour is designed for small groups . When we were there, there were 5 other people taking part besides us, a young couple and a family of 3, all from the USA. Basically, a maximum of 8 participants are planned per tour. The tour takes place in English.

The tour provider is Bite-Sized Iceland.

Behind it is Sabrina, an American who has been married to an Icelander for over 20 years. They initially lived in Denmark with their children for a long time, but they have now been living in Iceland for several years. This year Sabrina started her own business.

Since she is an immigrant herself, Sabrina has a different view on life and culinary traditions in Iceland than people who grew up eating foods like rotten fish, sheep's head or sour whey as a matter of course. On the other hand, she experiences this through her Icelandic family and probably completely everyday culinary life, especially through her Icelandic mother-in-law. She is therefore the ideal person to "serve" her current home Iceland to foreign visitors in a bite-sized manner and to give an insight into the Icelandic culture, the special features and the food here. You can really see her enthusiasm and interest in Icelandic food!

According to the description, the meeting point for the tour was actually supposed to be at a bakery in Mýragata, near the Saga Museum and the restaurant Matur og Drykkur, but since the bakery has moved, we met at a hotel there.

Since the tour is not just a food tour, but also a walking tour, Sabrina took us on a short walk and told us a lot about everyday life here in Reykjavík. How do the Icelanders live? Why do they love colorful houses? What stories are behind the many graffiti here and behind the small corrugated iron houses? And how do Icelanders celebrate New Year's Eve - and what does the rescue teams' big ship have to do with it?

Sabrina explained all this and much more to us, clearly and with great attention to detail and her personal impressions while walking through the Old Harbor district.

Our first culinary stop was a small bakery where we had the most Icelandic cake to try: Hjónabandssæla, which means "Happy Marriage Cake". While we ate comfortably, Sabrina gave us an insight into the Icelandic cake and pastry tradition.

After the very traditional pastries, we continued with modern Icelandic cuisine - with lamb. Lamb, skyr and flatbread are traditional Icelandic foods that have shaped the island's food culture since the conquest in the 9th century. Here, these traditional foods are combined with traditional preparation methods from the Middle East and a kind of “fusion cuisine” is created. Definitely very tasty!

Afterwards we stopped at a traditional restaurant at the harbor. Founded in 1935, it is probably the oldest restaurant still in operation in Iceland. It has been in the current building for almost 50 years. In the past, it was mainly hungry fishermen and workers from the fish factories here at the harbor who came here, often after their shift. And since most of the visitors had worked in fish all day, the menu at that time mainly consisted of simple and cheap meat dishes, such as svið (= singed head of a sheep) with potatoes and turnips.

Today the customer base has changed, the old fish factories here no longer exist - and so fish dishes are now primarily on the menu here.

During our food tour we were served a selection of typical Icelandic fish dishes. First there was a small portion of fish soup, then several large pans were placed on the table for everyone to help themselves to. That day there was plokkfiskur with rúgbrauð , i.e. pounded fish with the sweet, soft Icelandic rye bread, fried fish with potatoes and fiskibollur, i.e. fish cakes, with onions.

Sabrina said that in the past - not so long ago, when her husband was still a child - it was often customary here in Iceland to eat fish and potatoes 5 days a week, sometimes fresh fish and freshly cooked potatoes and then on the next day the leftovers were processed into plokkfiskur. On Sundays there might also be potatoes with meat, fresh vegetables, fruit or salad were in short supply. You just had to take what was available and feed your family with it. The older generation still lives and cooks like this today, but the younger generation enjoys the variety on today`s menus.

There was even an insight into the Icelandic pub culture, in the oldest operating brewery in Iceland at the historic harbor we were able to try local beer or a non-alcoholic cocktail.

On old photos on the walls you can see what these rooms used to look like when fish was still processed here on a large scale.

In between, Sabrina also gave us an insight into everyday culinary life here - where, for example, do Icelanders shop when they want something really good for invitations, birthdays, confirmations or celebrations? Given the prices here (e.g. lamb fillet for 11,490 ISK/kg, i.e. a good € 75) it's not something for everyday life - but definitely worth it for special occasions!

She also had numerous samples for us in her backpack, from licorice chocolate for baking to dried fish with butter, and always a nice story to go with it, from Egill Skallagrímsson, an Icelandic saga hero from the 10th century, to Johan Bülow, the Dane who founded his own licorice factory in 2007 - inspired of course by Icelandic licorice chocolate!

Our tour ended with eating ice cream at Valdís in Grandi - and of course Sabrina also talked about the Icelanders' passion for ice cream, regardless of wind and weather, and of course also about the typical Icelandic Ísbíltúr .

We definitely enjoyed our food tour with Sabrina at the Old Port of Reykjavík, we got very full in a very pleasant way and had a really entertaining and enjoyable tour!

Takk fyrir!

[Translated from here.]