Reykjavík Grapevine - 01.07.2011, Side 23

Grapevine readers, friends, enemies and staff do the choosin’!
By: the usual gang of idiots
YOUR
ESSENTIAL
GUIDE
BEST OF
THE
REYKJAVÍK
2011
22
the reykjavík grapevine
Issue 9 — 2011
DINING
AND
GRUBBING
BEST OF
THE
REYKJAVÍK
2011
Best burger
hamborgarabúlla tómasar
Heimilisfang 34, 105 G5
So Búllan takes BEST BURGER for
the third year in a row. Like last year,
their crown was contested; some people
think “their meat is sort of odd”, and
others complain that only the original
location is any good (“they are bad at
franchising”), but once again their lov-
ers are louder than the haters: “Friendly
service, fire-grilled burgers and all the
condiments you could hope for... please
don’t change, Búlla!”
Runners-up: American Style (“Hard
to explain the appeal, but it exists”),
Hamborgarafabrikkan (“The vibe is
kinda weird but the food is great [...] a
bloody good burger”), Vitabar (“Always
a classic...”)
(2009: Hamborgarabúlla Tómasar
2010: Hamborgarabúlla Tómasar)
Best veggie burger
hamborgarafabrikkan
A lot of places got votes in this category.
Búllan got props for serving up veggie
patties from everyone’s favourite or-
ganic farm, Móður Jörð (also because
“they feel greasy, not good for me,
which I want in a burger, even if it’s
veggie”), while 2009 winners Drekinn
have their loyal following. However,
Hamborgarafabrikkan’s option of al-
lowing you to trade the meat from any
one of their burgers with a Portobello
mushroom seemed the most appealing
to our resident veggies. “I like getting
a ‘Salsa burger’ with Portobello... it’s a
taste sensation”, remarked one of our
correspondents.
(2009: Drekinn
2010: Saffran)
Best ‘specialty burger’
Vitabar’s ‘Forget-me-not’
This used to be known as ‘the best blue
cheese burger’ category. Then we decid-
ed that having such a category was use-
less, since Vitabar would take the prize
every time. So we changed it into ‘best
specialty burger’, which opened up the
category for a lot of other contenders.
Hamborgarafabrikkan won last year
due to their ‘Lamburger’, but Vitabar
are back to reclaim the throne. Accord-
ing to pretty much everyone, “these
blue cheese burgers are to die for, the
atmosphere is unique and authentic,
and they never fail!”.
Runners-up: Kex (“it’s a new place,
but they serve SLIDERS!”), Hambo-
rgarafabrikkan (“a great selection of
specialty burgers...”), Prikið (“Try Sul-
tuborgarinn. You won’t regret it”).
(2009: Vitabar
2010: Hamborgarafabrikkan)
Best slice
deli
Deli won this category in 2009. Then
they won again in 2010. And guess
what... they take the prize again now.
We’ve heard they’re open sporadically
at night these days, which might make
them a contender for the ‘drunken
slice’ category, but sporadic opening
hours prevent this from happening.
Why do Deli take the prize yet
again? Probably because, as one mail-
in remarked, “they do their slices New
York-style, meaning that they don’t
keep them in heater boxes all day grow-
ing stale but throw them in the oven
when you order. This means a slightly
longer wait, and a much fresher slice”.
A Facebook commenter also remarked
that “... they have some really novel top-
pings, not the usual pepperoni and sve-
ppir you get everywhere”.
Runners-up: Gamla smiðjan (“They
have the best pizza, so why not the best
slice?”), Express Pizza (“Slightly incon-
sistent, but different from the rest. Plus
their dipping sauces rule!”)
(2009: Deli
2010: Deli)
Best drunken slice
devitos Pizza
‘Best drunken slice’ gets our crowd ar-
guing every time. Even though folks
mostly agree on what a ‘drunken slice’
needs to offer (grease), they are very di-
vided on which place brings the goods
in a consistent enough manner to de-
serve their bingeing money. At our
BEST OF MEETING, a fight nearly
broke out between supporters of Pizza
King (“they have all the grease you
need, plus they’re right downtown”)
and Devitos Pizza (“the originators of
Reykjavík grease, and they’re super con-
sistent even if you need to walk a spell
from whatever bar you were at”). So we
decided to resolve it with a vote on our
Facebook page. And Devitos won by a
pretty hefty margin. Congratulations
Devitos, you are awesome.
Runners-up: Pizza King, Express
Pizza (“I just love it when I’m drunk!”)
(2009: Devitos Pizza
2010: Devitos Pizza/Pizza King TIE)
Best pizza
gamla smiðjan
Just like last year, this one did not take
long to figure out. One panellist re-
marked: “I used to live in Providence,
RI, where there’s a pretty heavy concen-
tration of Italian Americans and some
of the world’s best pizza places. Gamla
Smiðjan is comparable to any of Provi-
dence’s top five”. Like we said last year:
“Gamla smiðjan seem to handle every
single order with care, love and respect
[...]. Now, while it’s not the most charm-
ing place to eat out at, they do deliver-
ies, and we’ve yet to receive a cold pizza
from them”.
Runners-up: HaPP (“a really novel
and great pizza. The only thing that’s
cooked is the crust. I’ve had strawber-
ries and mozzarella on my pizza and
loved it), Eldsmiðjan (“it feels like
they’re making a comeback!”), Saffran
(“love that pieeee!”).
(2009: Devitos Pizza
2010: Gamla Smiðjan)
Best place to go for ice
cream
Ísbúðin Ísland
Last year Ísbúðin Ísland managed
to scoop up (ha!) the ‘best ice cream’
award due to their inventive f lavours
and charming straight from the farm
philosophy (it also helped that Ísbúð
Vesturbæjar’s newfound ‘institution’
status made way for new places). Not
much has changed, so they take the
prize again. However, there are new
contenders on the horizon, so Ísland
might want to watch it...
Runners-up: Ísgerðin (“they just
opened up and I am quite enthralled.
You make it yourself and then pay by
weight”), Sandholt bakery (“their coco-
nut ice cream deserves an award of its
own”).
(2009: Ísbúð Vesturbæjar
2010: Ísbúðin Ísland)
Best bakery
Sandholt
A vote by our panel (and one on our
Facebook page) determined that Sand-
holt is yet again the king of Reykjavík’s
bakeries (although only by a margin
this time around, with 2009 winners
Mosfellsbakarí polling closely behind).
Sandholt might not be the cheapest
bakery, but they always deliver some
of the finest baked goods in a country
with some fairly high baked-good stan-
dards. Extra marks for serving fresh
stuff all day long.
(2009: Mosfellsbakarí
2010: Sandholt)
Best indian food
austurlandahraðlestin
Let’s be honest: there are not a lot of res-
taurants serving Indian food in Reykja-
vík, and one of them has already made
‘institution’ status (thereby rendering it
ineligible). But the competition is still
fierce, and our crew of advisors, com-
menters and emailers made some very
reasonable arguments for why Shali-
mar (“a proper curry”), Indian Mango
(“a real treat”), Kitchen (“not technical-
ly Indian, but very definitely delicious
every time”) and Austurlandahraðles-
tin (“the taste of Austur Indíafélagið for
a portion of the price”) deserved ‘best
of’ status—and also why they should
not. In the end, Austurlandahraðlestin
won the popular vote by a slim margin.
(2009: Austur-Indía félagið
2010: Shalimar)
Best thai food
Ban thai
This one was no contest. Ban Thai is
apparently Reykjavík’s favourite Thai
restaurant. Those polled cited several
reasons (everything about the place,
including its interior decorations, got
mentioned—except for the service,
which is reportedly “inconsistent”), but
the main underlying reason for peo-
ple’s satisfaction with Ban Thai seems
to be the food they serve (“always fresh
made, always delicious”) and its au-
thenticity.
Runners-up: Krua Thai (“Thairif-
fic!”), Núðluhúsið (“great prices”), Na-
Na Thai (“Ban Thai’s take out service”).
(2009: Ban Thai
2010: Ban Thai)
Best kebab
habibi
This is a new category, and it divided
the crowd. Many professed a love for
Alíbaba’s delicious falafel while others
are loyal to the originators of the ‘Reyk-
javík kebab’, Kebabhúsið. Though not
in the fast food category, Eldhrímnir
also got high commendations for their
kebab (“it will last you the weekend, the
thing is huge and delicious!”). How-
ever, Habibi won the popular vote, with
a special nod to their shawarma sand-
wiches (“they do both the classic spice
kebabs and a Syrian kebab”, “subtle and
fresh”, “even though they messed up
my last three orders, I love them”).
Runners-up: Kebabhúsið, Eldhrím-
nir, Alíbaba
(New category)
Best coffeehouse
kaffismiðjan
Last year, someone remarked: “Kaffis-
miðjan OWN Reykjavík coffee these
days. Why are we even debating this?”.
This year though, Kaffismiðjan came
under some fire: “They have uncom-
fortable seating”, an email remarked.
Then added: “... oh what am I thinking,
their coffee is unparalleled! Yum!”
Runners-up: C is for Cookie, Babalú
(2009: Kaffismiðjan
2010: Kaffismiðjan)
Best coffee to-go
kaffifélagið
Kaffifélagið on Skólavörðustígur seems
to be the perfect place to step in for
some take-away. Last year’s winners,
Café D’Haiti, got a lot of votes, but one
commenter remarked that their coffee
is just as good as the person making it,
while Kaffifélagið have a sort of stan-
dard going for them. “Also, they always
ask how much milk I want in my latté.
This is important. They always cater to
your specific needs”.
Runner-up: Café D’Haiti
(2009: Kaffifélagið
2010: Café d’Haiti)
Best place for coffee
and cakes
Babalú
Babalú is a local favourite, especially
among expats and English-speakers
since the atmosphere is very inclusive
and they often serve as a nice introduc-
tion to the Icelandic-int’l community.
But their winning trump, according
to mail-ins, is the cakes and baked
goods: “That’s where I go for cake. It’s
all baked on the premises. Except the
chocolate cake, that’s baked by an old
woman in Hafnarfjörður!”.
Runner-up: Café Flóra (“the best
place for cake, to be sure. Pity they are
only open during summertime”)
(New category)
Our annual BEST OF REYKJAVÍK LIST, 2K11 EDITION is finally here in all it’s listy listness. For the third year in a row,
we’ve spent countless hours of what was supposed to be our free time compiling the thing [via your suggestions, e-
mails, Facebook comments and bar-talk], and as always we are sure you are more than ready to contest and challenge
every single entry in here.
And this is the point. We should strive to spend our time having conversations about stuff in our environment that
contributes to our quality of life and sanity in general. We need to care about our surroundings, big-up the things we are
thankful for and try to improve whatever entities we are not.
As we like to say (or lazily copy/paste) on this occasion: “We love the great city of Reykjavík. We really do. In fact, we
love it so much, we named our magazine after it—and most of us choose to live here for extended periods at a time. It
really is an excellent little city, all things considered. Of course it’s lacking in many things a city will need. Decent public
transport, actual neighbourhoods, a variety of ethnic eateries, clubs for late night partying on weekdays and about a
million people, to name but a few. But we still swear by it, and if you’re reading this, chances are you do too”.
We do feel that these are some nice tips on some of what makes Reykjavík-life worthwhile, some good entries into
a hopefully never-ending discussion. The primary purpose of this BEST OF REYKJAVÍK thing is celebration! It’s about
big-upping stuff, giving mad props to it and patting it on the shoulder. Sort of a print-version of the Facebook ‘like’ if you
will.
Our list is of course by no means a scientific one, and it is certainly heavily contestable. It should be read as such.
It should be used as a starting point for a conversation of appreciation; something for you folks to read, verify, dis-
trust, totally disagree with, argue over, send us angry rants about and generally enjoy.
Here’s how we did it: Ever since spring 2009 we’ve been accepting readers’ thoughts on what’s BEST at bestof@
grapevine.is, as well as conducting random polls on our Facebook, on the street and at the bar. Using your suggestions
and arguments for guidance, we then assembled a couple of large panels of tasteful folks that represent pretty much
every gender, income bracket and political affiliation to discuss. Below are the results. Enjoy, and remember to send your
suggestions to bestof@grapevine.is for consideration in our 2012 edition.