Icelandic Food: What to Eat & Where

Rye bread is a traditional Icelandic bread made from rye grains that is dark, dense, and subtly sweet. Try it topped with smoked salmon or lamb, dip it in soup, or spread it with locally made butter.

If bread alone doesn’t excite you (how is that possible?!), hot spring bread (hverabrauð) is rye bread traditionally baked in a pot underground near geothermal hot springs for 24 hours.

Try Reykjavik artisan bakery Brauð & Co’s rye bread (and get one of their famous cinnamon buns while you’re there!). For an Icelandic dessert that’s a twist on the classic, go for rye bread ice cream at Café Loki. It’s one of the oldest restaurants in Reykjavik by Hallgrímskirkja church. For a foodie experience around the Golden Circle, the geothermal spa and bakery Laugarvatn Fontana offers hot spring bread excursions.

Icelandic lamb has been free-roaming and grass-fed since the year 874 – and you can taste it. Lamb soup (kjötsúpa) is an Icelander favorite on a cold day. Slow-roasted lamb is another popular Icelandic dish. Don’t miss Reykjavik’s famous street food, hot dogs (pylsur), made from a mix of lamb, beef, and pork.

Icelandic Street Food is a great casual spot for lamb soup. They offer free refills of soup AND free waffles. For lamb ribeye or slow-roasted lamb shoulder, try Reykjavik Kitchen or Old Iceland – two of the city’s best restaurants. Bæjarins Bestu Pylsur has been frequented for 60 years by locals, tourists, and celebrities alike for its hot dogs. Get “one with everything” for all the toppings.

Fresh and locally caught seafood reigns supreme in Iceland. You’ll find it baked, fried, mashed, skewered, grilled, preserved, stewed, boiled, roasted, you name it. The most common fish from Iceland’s waters on the menu are cod, haddock, Atlantic salmon, and Arctic char.

One of Iceland’s most famous traditional fish dishes is fish stew (plokkfiskur). It’s made of white fish mixed with potatoes, onions, and béchamel. Icelandic langoustine (humar) is especially tender and delicious. In Höfn, Iceland’s unofficial langoustine capital, locals throw an annual lobster festival in late June.

101 Reykjavik Street Food has killer fish and chips and desserts like crème brûlée made with Skyr Icelandic yogurt. At Messinn, one of the city’s top seafood restaurants, people rave about the pan-fried arctic char. At Hlemmur Mathöll Food Hall, try the hand-dived Icelandic scallops at SKAL! with natural wine. At Sjávargrillið, people go wild for the lobster tacos, and Sægreifinn has world-famous lobster soup.