Reykjavík Grapevine - 07.04.2006, Blaðsíða 24

Roma, at the far end of the main street
Laugavegur, is a deli-type coffee house,
and one of the best take-away places in
town. It almost feels unnatural that all
the tempting cookies, cakes and other
sweet things that are calling your name on
the shelves are actually quite reasonably
priced.
1
Café Roma
Laugavegur 118
Ráðhúskaffi inside the Reykjavík City
Hall is a comfortable choice for the view
over Tjörnin, especially recommended on
the so-called window weather days – the
days that are beautiful, as long as you stay
indoors. Also art exhibitions, 80m2s of
miniature Iceland and municipal politics,
all conveniently under the same roof.
2 Ráðhúskaffi
City Hall
Grái Kötturinn (The grey cat) is a cosy
place, and that’s why it’s a shame that it’s
quite often closed when we knock on their
door and peer through the window later
in the evening. Don’t follow our example
and go during the daylight, it’s especially
popular during the morning hours.
3 Grái Kötturinn
Hverfisgata 16a
A peaceful café with perfect windows for
people-watching and a lot of daylight.
Hljómalind is run by a non-profit organi-
sation and it only serves organic & fair
trade products.
4 Kaffi Hljómalind
Laugavegur 21
Kaffi Mokka is the oldest café in Reykja-
vík, dating back to the 1950s. It’s the place
with dark, smoky atmosphere and great
numbers of loyal customers. Their waffles
are best in town. Seriously.
5 Mokka
Skólavörðustígur 3a
A coffee house where you can find all
kinds of people - all ages, all nationalities,
with very friendly, down-to-earth feel to
it. Affordable prices on coffee, cakes and
the lunch menu. Try their speciality, the
(South) African latte.
6 Ömmukaffi
Austurstræti
The youngest coffee house in Reykjavík
is also the homiest. Almost like a living
room away from home, Babalú keeps it
simple, quiet and cozy with coffee and the
occasional crêpe.
7 Babalú
Skólavörðustígur 22a
CAFÉ
Expanded and improved, this is the down-
town store for one of the country’s finest
coffee importers. While anything here is
good, the speciality coffee drinks are truly
remarkable: our favourite, the Azteca, an
espresso drink with lime and Tabasco.
9 Kaffitár
Bankastræti 8
With McDonalds long departed from
the centre of Reykjavík, we got Italian
chain Segafredo, which isn’t a bad trade-
off. The staff are expert baristi, and, even
though Iceland is proud of its coffee, no-
body quite tops the Segafredo latte.
10 Segafredo
By Lækjartorg
Sólon is a nightclub on Friday and Sat-
urday nights, but it seems to have more
lives than one, since in the day it’s a cof-
feehouse and in the evening (weeknights)
they have a decent menu as well, and an
art exhibition on the walls to finish the
package with an artsy touch.
Oliver is one of the biggest hits in town
at the moment. Good news for the early
birds: they open at 8 in the morning with
an extensive brunch menu, staying chic all
day long, until late - always crowded, with
an everlasting queue outside especially
towards weekend nights. Their Mediter-
ranean menu, served in huge portions, is
guaranteed to make you smile.
12 Oliver
Laugavegur 20a
Kaffibarinn is Cool Hip Reykjavík. Blur’s
Damon Albarn owns a share of the bar,
probably figuring it was cheaper than
buying drinks all the time. This place has
managed to serve as a 101 living room
for quite a while already, with DJs often
playing on the weeknights, with volumes
rising towards the weekend. Friday and
Saturday nights serve as the weekly peaks
of claustrophobia.
13 Kaffibarinn
Bergstaðastræti 1
“Welcome to the Jungle/ We got fun and
games,” quote the bard. Elements of this
odd and alternative cultural institution
also include an upstairs that looks and
smells like a bus, a garden, a flea market
and a queue on weekend nights that looks
never-ending.
14 Sirkus
Klapparstígur 30
A very nice “grandma” style café. Subter-
ranean, as all traditional coffee shops
should be. This place makes you feel
warm, both with its atmosphere and the
generosity of the coffee refills.
8 Tíu Dropar
Laugavegur 27
11
Sólon
Bankastræti 7a
BARS 'N' BISTROS
Vegamót (crossroads) has an appealing
lunch menu, they serve brunch during the
weekends, and the kitchen is open until
22 daily. After that the beat goes on, and
you can check the end results in photos
published the day after on their website
www.vegamot.is. If you like Oliver, try
Vegamót and vice versa.
16 Vegamót
Vegamótastígur 4
B5 is a newly opened bistro with a Scandi-
navian focus on the menu. Don’t be fooled
by the impressive collection of design
classics that you see in the window when
passing by – it’s neither cold nor overly
expensive, but rather a cozy place with
friendly service.
17 B5
Bankastræti 5
As the Viking style garden and logo ac-
curately signal, this is no place for the
weak— yes, chess bars are that tough.
Even if the downstairs atmosphere can
feel a bit ominous at times, it’s one of the
best venues for live music in town. Chess,
beer and rock’n’roll.
19 Grand Rokk
Smiðjustígur 6
The rock bar on Laugavegur is one of the
late-night party venues in town. You’ll feel
the floor jumping every Friday and Sat-
urday, and it’s neither you nor an earth-
quake. Live concerts and a nice foosball
table upstairs.
20 Bar 11
Laugavegur 11
The celebrated site of one of the more
famous coffeehouses in Iceland, this bar/
coffeehouse/ restaurant brings a European
flair to the city. That is until about 11,
when things get to rockin’, and you can see
the true character of Reykjavík.
21 Hressingarskálinn
Austurstræti 20
Spelled with a C rather than with the more
traditional K in order to be more cosmo-
politan. This ploy seems to be working, as
the bar has become a hangout for foreign-
ers. The Viking ship sitting on top of the
building might also add to the appeal. The
crowd is very mixed, both in origin and
age, and so is the music.
15 Café Victor
Hafnarstræti 1-3
18
Perhaps the closest thing to a jazz club
in town, with old instruments lining the
walls. People go there for conversation
and listening to music rather than danc-
ing. The place tends to have jazz or blues-
type music, and is developing a bluegrass
scene.
Rósenberg
Lækjargata 2
The recently expanded Cultura is located
in the same building with the Intercultural
Centre. A good value menu, friendly
service and settings that allow you to ei-
ther sit down and carry on discussions, or
dance the night away – tango on Wednes-
days starting with free lessons from 20 to
21:00.
23 Café Cultura
Hverfisgata 18
Used to be the oldest continuously run-
ning traditional coffeehouse on the street,
but, after a change of clientele, they now
cater to a younger crowd. A diner during
the day and a nightclub on weekends,
you can also borrow games there, such as
backgammon or chess.
24 Prikið
Bankastræti 12
Pravda is one of the larger clubs/bars in
downtown Reykjavík. It’s divided between
two floors and also separately into the
Pravda Bar and the Pravda Club. The
club section of Pravda is ideal for dancing,
while the bar section is somewhat more
quiet and chilled out, with occasional live
jazz and sometimes reggae.
22 Pravda
Austurstræti 22
Posh as the fifth circle of hell. DJs on
Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Arrive
before 12 if you want to avoid the queue.
Civilian attire is looked down upon. Do
not expect to get in wearing hiking boots.
26 Thorvaldsen
Austurstræti 8
Iceland’s oldest bar is now in its early
twenties. During the day it’s a pool pub
and on weekday evenings there are live
rock concerts by a mix of mainstream and
underground bands. On weekends there
is usually a lot of action with cover bands
playing everything from Britney to the
Beatles...
27 Gaukur á Stöng
Tryggvagata 22
There are no tricks to this one. You know
what you want and you know what you’ll
get when you enter this simple, straight-
forward pub. We are talking about drink-
ing beer. Known as the hangout for the
intellectual circles of Reykjavík.
25 Ölstofan
Vegamótastígur
One of the few proper sports bars in Reyk-
javík, so you can go and watch whatever
game happens to be on the TV screens.
The establishment is basically based
around the bar, so you won’t have to go a
long way for a drink. Open until five, and
has a reputation for late night partying.
29 Glaumbar
Tryggvagata 20
They have a fish buffet for 2,500ISK
every evening, with the magic words
“eat-as-much-as-you-can” floating in the
air. They also have an Icelandic media
person working there every now and then,
so watch out for a curly haired, friendly
gentleman called Egill.
30 Litli Ljóti Andarunginn
Lækjargata 6b
Kaffibrennslan manages to be just a nice,
“normal” place to go to, and a place to be
seen at, surprisingly enough both at the
same time. A wide variety of beverages,
both bistro menu and a terrace outside the
bar when the weather allows it. The iced
coffee beverage is a delight.
28 Kaffibrennslan
Pósthusstræti 9
Laugavegur
Austurstræti Bankastræti
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The chairs are Captain Kirk comfortable,
the computers are set up with monster
headphones and there’s a relaxation lounge
for break time. This all makes for a great
place to do power emailing, especially during
the daytime weekday specials offering two
hours for 500 ISK; or you could try out
gaming, assuming you’re bored with that
crack addiction.
Ground Zero, Vallarstræti 4, 101 Reykjavík.
Tel.: 562-7776.
SP
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GROUND ZERO