Iceland (Lonely Planet, 7th Edition) - Fran Parnell [31]
Lunch usually costs between Ikr1000 and Ikr2500, and dinner between Ikr1800 and Ikr5500, depending on where you are and what you order. Á la carte menus usually offer at least one fish dish, one vegie choice (invariably pasta) and several meat mains. Lots of restaurants also have a menu of lighter, cheaper meals such as hamburgers, sandwiches and pizzas. In Reykjavík, and to a lesser extent Akureyri, there are an increasing number of ethnic restaurants, including Thai, Japanese, Italian, Mexican, Indian and Chinese.
Opening hours for restaurants are usually 11.30am to 2.30pm and 6pm to 10pm daily.
Cafes & Pubs
Downtown Reykjavík has a great range of bohemian cafe-bars where you can happily while away the hours sipping coffee, gossiping, people-watching, scribbling in your diary, or tinkering with your laptop. Menus range from simple soups and sandwiches to fish dishes and designer burgers. Cafe-bars offer some of the best bargain meals in Iceland (mains cost from about Ikr800).
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Skagafjörður in northwest Iceland, has developed a ‘culinary tourism’ infrastructure – menus in the area’s restaurants have a fork-and-knife symbol next to items made solely from locally sourced produce.
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Most of Reykjavík’s cafes metamorphose into wild drinking dens in the evenings (Fridays and Saturdays mostly). Suddenly DJs appear, beer is swilled, and merry people dance, screech and stagger around until somewhere between 3am and 6am.
Quick Eats
KIOSKS
Icelanders love fast food, and you’ll soon discover that a cheap way to stave off hunger until dinner is to have a pýlsur (hot dog).
PETROL-STATION GRILLS
Outside Reykjavík, many large petrol stations have good, cheap grills and cafeterias attached to them – often the busiest eating place in town. They generally serve sandwiches and fast food from around 11am to 9pm or 10pm. Some also offer hearty set meals at lunchtime, such as meat soup, fish of the day or plates of lamb.
BAKERIES
We can’t praise the wonderful Icelandic bakari (bakeries) enough. Every town has one, generally open from 7am or 8am until 5pm on weekdays (sometimes also Saturdays). They sell all sorts of inexpensive fresh bread, buns, cakes, sandwiches and coffee, and usually provide chairs and tables.
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ICELANDIC PÝLSUR
Along with copious amounts of coffee, the pýlsur (hot dog) is the fuel of modern Iceland. Hot dogs are for sale (for around Ikr250) in every petrol station and fast-food kiosk. You can choose between toppings of raw onion, crunchy deep-fried onion, ketchup, mustard and tangy remoulade, or just ask for ‘ein með öllu’ (one with everything – our favourite).
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Self-Catering
Every town and village has at least one small supermarket. The most expensive are 10-11 and 11-11. Bónus (easily recognised by its drunk-looking yellow-and-pink piggy-bank sign) is the country’s budget supermarket chain. Others include Krónan, Kasko, Samkaup-Strax and Samkaup-Úrval. Opening times vary greatly; in Reykjavík most are open from 9am to 11pm daily, but outside the capital hours are always shorter.
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Stop by a small-town bakery around 5pm – sweet treats are usually marked down by 50% before being thrown out at the end of the day.
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Iceland imports most of its groceries, so prices are exorbitant – roughly twice or three times what you’d pay in North America, Australia or Europe. Fish (tinned or smoked) and dairy products represent the best value and are surprisingly cheap. Some fruit and vegetables are grown locally, and these tend to be fresh and tasty, but imported vegetables usually look tragic by the time they hit the supermarket shelves.
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VEGETARIANS & VEGANS
You’ll have no problem in Reykjavík – there are several excellent meat-free, organic cafe-restaurants in