Eating out in Reykjavík can be an expensive business. This makes trying all the delicious options tricky. In most of our trips, we have had one nice meal out and then room noodles or hostel pasta for the rest of the time. Well, on our February 2024 visit, I decided it was time to try all the things we had missed out on. The best way to do it? A food tour of course! After comparing the options, we decided that Your Friend in Reykjavík was the best option, hosted by locals who are passionate about not just food, but history and culture too. Join us for our Friend in Reykjavik Food Lovers Tour review.

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Our Food Lovers Tour

The meeting place for the Reykjavik Food Loves Tour was Ingólfur Square and when we arrived, we could only see one chap waiting in the cold. This was Stefan, our guide for the afternoon. Turns out, we were the only people booked on that day. Thats a weekday in January for you! Thankfully, that meant we didn’t have to wait for anyone else and head straight off to start the eating.

Our first two tastings were in a restaurant just steps away from where we were staying. In fact, we were planning to eat there one evening but never got around to it so I am extra glad we got to pop in as part of the tour.

Lovely Lamb

It may look a little alarming but it was just in intense red light when it was photographed. The first dish was super soft and tender smoked lamb tartare. Icelanders love their lamb and the animals are treated really well. The sheep are given all summer to roam free before being rounded up in a big, fun community effort. They drink spring water and eat yummy grass, leaves and berries. With have zero stress and no hormones added, these are the most freerange farmed sheep in the world. The lamb tartare was a real delight. It was served on sourdough toast with a perfect chewy crust and cool cream cheese and capers. Plus, no onions which is rare for a tartare, allowing the meat flavours to sing.

The Greatest Gravlax

Next was some of the best cured salmon we have ever had. Somehow, the cure was so perfect that it was both meaty and supremely soft. I think we were both in heaven. The raw salmon, slowly cured in salt, sugar and dill topped some rye bread and was sprinkled with parmesan. I love smoked salmon but this may have beaten that!

The World’s Best Hot Dog

I know, I know, this is a rather big claim but hear me out, they may have a point. Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur is one of the cheapest eats in town and the dogs really are rather fantastic. This little red stand has been serving hot dogs right here for almost a century, curing Reykvíkingur’s woes since 1937. There is always a queue, even in the middle of the night when it is several degrees below freeing. Don’t fear though, the queue moves quickly. Apparently, the staff is paid by the hot dog so they have a vested interest in banging out those bangers!

Traditionally, people order, “One with everything”. This includes:

• A Steamed Bun – These sweetish buns are so soft that they basically dissolve when eaten!
• A Lamb-based Sausage – Full of flavour and pretty unique. The rest of the world favours just beef or pork dogs.
• Raw Onions – The devil.
• Sweet Mustard – If you love the one at IKEA, you’re going to love this.
• Ketchup – The ketchup here is very unique, with an apple base.
• Remoulade – A kind of spiced mayo with mustard and a tang from vinegar or capers.
• Crispy Onions – This is the final topping and gives the whole thing a bit of texture. I say topping but actually, they are put under the sausage so that they aren’t whipped away by the Icelandic wind.

Now, you may or may not know that I cannot abide onions. I bravely said I would try one with the crispy onions in the bun but one bite quickly told me that it wasn’t the thing! We ordered another one without any kind of onions for me and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Lush Lamb Soup

I think Kjötsúpa may be Iceland’s ultimate comfort food. Rich with umami, the broth is clear so you can see everything delicious chunk of root veg or lamb….and that’s pretty much the sum of it. Braised lamb is combined with turnips, potatoes, carrots and cabbage. The broth isn’t seasoned much, beyond salt and pepper so it tastes of the things you put in! Some families like to bulk it up with grains, rice etc but this is totally down to personal preference. As we slurped our way through the bowl, Stefan told us some really cool Icelandic folk tales. It was like having a cool podcast as we ate dinner!

The Icelandic Street Food restaurant serves this soup in either a bread bowl, or in a bowl with the bread on the side. You’ll notice that if you order it in a bowl, the hunk of bread you get is carved from the bread bowls. That’s smart! They offer free refills of the soup but of course, you won’t need them on the food tour. Just remember it for another evening as this has to be one of the best value meals in Reykjavík.

A Few Tastes of Iceland

Newly opened, A Taste of Iceland on theLaugavegur is a treasure trove of foodie delights. The enigmatic owner travels the island in search of the very best and the very weirdest of Iceland’s culinary world. We were so excited to have a tasting here, including all kinds of things we hadn’t seen anywhere else. Here are some of the things we tried:

• Seafood – Not for the faint=heaterted, dried cod is something that might make you curl your nose up. It is, however, familiar to many Asian cultures and reminded us strongly of travelling in Thailand and Japan. Less familiar, and more delicious, was another Asian-flavoured treat…sea cucumber.
• Liquorice – I am always so unsure when people try to convince me I am about to enjoy a liquorice sweet. Usually, they are wrong. However, we tried a tasty chocolate-covered liquorice which had the right ratio. Then, we tried something called Djoflar (salted liquorice creams). They were so interesting and intense! I guess they must know how to do it as some of Iceland’s most popular chocolate bars have liquorice in.

• Spice – Mr Fluskey does not like spice but sometimes, when we are in public he plays it so blooming cool. We were treated to a series of hot sauces, featuring chillies grown in hot houses around Iceland. The final one was painful. It didn’t seem that bad but after a little while it started to occur to me that it wasn’t wearing off, just getting worse. Somehow, Mr “I don’t like spicy things” was telling everyone that it was fine. Was he lying or did he actually not put it in his mouth? Trust me…it was spicy!

We had to buy some of the cucumber relish that we tried (I am 100% making a burger with this on) and the crazy Djoflar liquorice. Now we are waiting for a fun social gathering to share these with our buddies.

We made our way to the last stop, Dass.

A Sip of Cider

Knowing Iceland has apples, I asked whether there is a strong cider culture. Well, when we reached our last stop, I was given the chance to order some Icelandic cider. I was a little disappointed when the server gave two options, one very fruity, and one mysteriously called, “Flamingo”. Well, in for a penny… I ordered the flamingo. When it arrived, it was bright coral, as the name would suggest, and one quick sip confirmed it to be pink grapefruit flavour. It was delicious but as with its Swedish counterpart, it wasn’t cider.

Super Salted Cod

On our food tour in Lisbon, we learned all about salted code. In Spain and Portugal, it is called Bacalhau. Sailors who came north and caught cod (much of it Icelandic I’m sure) it was severely salted and dehydrated. On returning to their homes, they had to soak it for 24 hours to rehydrate the fish and dilute the salt. Well, in Iceland, where preservation isn’t such a problem, the salted cod is a very different beast.

Lightly cured, the salted fish is just beautifully seasoned and the cooking of our piece here at Dass was so light and delicate. It was served with a punchy Spanish-style sauce and I wished for four times more of everything!

Feared Fermented Shark

It is time!

Throughout our tour, the promise of this big moment had been part of the fun. We practised how to eat it and waited in an equal state of excitement and terror. I am sure you have seen the videos; tourists and world-class chefs alike gagging over small pieces of fermented shark. Hákarl consists of a Greenland shark which is buried for 6 – 12 weeks and left to go rotten. It is then cut into pieces and hung to dry for another month or so. It is said to have a strong taste of something like blue cheese with a lingering after taste of ammonia, leading some to say it tastes like pee.

I think we should try everything once but this one I was a bit scared of. I didn’t want to lose all the delicious things we had enjoyed along the tour! When the small pieces came from the kitchen, I was put at ease. They were small and I couldn’t smell them from my seat, despite the board being right in font of us. We rehearsed the eating routine once more before getting stuck in.

Well, neither of us vomited, or thought it was that bad….but we do enjoy stinky french cheese so maybe we are secretly hardcore? It seems more likely that we had an excellent teacher. (Plus, I am pretty bad at cooking so we have probably eaten worse by my own hand).

Brutal Black Death

Along with scary seafood, we were served a traditional shot of Brennivin (Icelandic fire water). This is more commonly known as Black Death and luckily, it has nothing to do with buboes. I actually found this header to finish than the fermented shark, but shots have never been an easy swallow for me. I sipped mine demurely as the others took their shot. It has a distinctly aniseed or liquorice flavour, like sambuca and it took me back to university just a little. Mind you, with the price of alcohol in Iceland, I will consume any I am given!

Divine Dessert

Oh, how I love Skyr! This protein-packed yoghurt-like is so good for you and so creamy. It is a form of strained yoghurt so it is thick but it has quite a light flavour, not sour like natural yoghurt can be. I thought that scooping it straight from a pot was the best way to enjoy it but they had to go and prove me wrong. Combining Skyr and my favourite dessert cheesecake, brought it to a very happy place. This dessert was light and “healthy”, making it to the perfect end to our Food Lovers Tour.

Final Thoughts on Our Food Lovers Tour Review

Icelandic cuisine seems like a real eingma. Before taking the tour, I know I liked the hot dog but had no idea what was in it. I knew there were A-frames on the street advertising reindeer (not from Iceland) and puffin. I feel like we walked way with a better understanding and appreciation of the food, the culture and the joy of Reykjavík. Thanks Stefan for a wicked night and we will be back for more of that salmon soon!

Rosie xx