Reykjavík Grapevine - 07.06.2013, Síða 23

people, patrons of the arts,
writers, poets, suits.
Holt is kind on the eyes. As you
sip on your excellent drink, you're
surrounded by the brilliance of
Kjarval as well as other Icelandic
masters of the visual arts. So the
Gallery Bar really delivers.
A hardboiled hangout for every
aficionado of cool. – SKK
Glaumbar
Tryggvagata 20
Glaumbar is technically a sports
bar, but looks and feels more like
a ship’s converted poop deck.
There’s a centre bar with dimly
lit seating around the periphery
that makes it easy for anyone to
snuggle up to you when you aren’t
asking for it. The two of you then
have the privilege of watching the
very to absurdly drunk groove in
the small dance area near the bow.
Glaumbar is not a place one goes
to see and be seen. If someone
really understands the bar scene in
Reykjavík, he or she will go to get a
cheap beer and get the hell out.

350

800

N/A
Almost exclusively DJ remixes of
other, already heavily auto-tuned,
sexually-charged tunes.
Young (20s-30s).
Dudes, Wall Street weekend party
boys, university students, 101
rats, middle-aged fellas busting
out the old pick up lines, people
trying to watch the damn match!,
grown men who get competitive
about foosball, Julian Assange,
and anyone looking for one of the
cheapest beers in town.
There’s a crowd-pleasing foosball
table, pinball machine, grimy
bathrooms, and very cheap beer
(the same price as a Reykjavík bus
ticket).
All dudes on the poop deck! – SS
Harlem
Tryggvagata 22
Harlem's walls are essentially a
permanent exhibition of some of
the best contemporary Icelandic
artists. Fittingly, young artists
and art students make up a
considerable chunk of the crowd.
They engage in intensive table
dancing, pouring beer on the floor,
breaking glass and feeling like
sardines. There are some good
deals at the bar in the early evening
but things don't pick up till well
after 1:00 AM.

750

1200

1050
House music, R&B, hip-hop and
poppier party and rock music can
all be heard depending on who's
behind the decks.
Young (20s-30s).
Young artists, art students,
university students, musicians,
tourists, expats, graphic
designers, cultural professionals.
They have a foosball table and
crazy paintings on the walls.
Cute, arty kids dancing on elevated
surfaces. – AB
Hemmi og Valdi
Laugavegur 21
Even though it’s pretty empty at
this point in the evening, Hemmi
og Valdi never feels lonely.
Perhaps that’s because its wooden
walls breathe sweat generated
by pan-faced, body-jerking
hipsters. Although the seating is
uncomfortable it’s a good place for
chatting, that is, until it becomes
an over-crowded cesspit of skinny
people wearing baseball caps
listening to electronic (whatever
that means) music. Then the
smoking area is quite nice, being as
it is to the side of the building.

750

1000

980
It's a live music bar with lots of
DJ sets and occasional bands
with instruments. Grapevine
Grassroots is a combination of
music and performance art that is
usually a good laugh.
Young (20s-30s).

101 rats; artsy fartsters,
musicians.
They have a toilet that is big and
gross with no mirror and a toilet
that is small and gross with a tiny
mirror. There’s a smoking area
with seats.
Hemmi og Valdi is a combination
of flaws that make it feel local and
homely. – AG
Hótel 101 Bar
Hverfisgata 10
This place is pretentious and it
takes you up to 25 minutes to order
a beer.

950

1350

1290

80s Soft Rock.

Older (40+).

Business people, bankers.

You can't order a drink from the
bar.
A pretentious and un-cosy hotel
bar. – OD
Hressingarskálinn (Hressó)
Austurstræti 20
The bar recently underwent a bit
of a facelift with snazzy colourful
cushions replacing worn leather
booths. There are plenty of seats
here during the day, but they clear
half of them out on late weekend
nights. The place is refreshingly
free of pretentious young things
parading their new indoor
sunglasses and it's not a bad choice
if you're a person looking to meet
a young, attractive gal, perhaps
showing a little bit too much
cleavage so long as you are willing
to overlook that she isn't the most
engaging conversationalist. The
same goes for the people looking
to meet young, buff men in low-cut
t-shirts, so long as you don't mind
that they seem to bathe in cologne.

890

1100

1090
Expect troubadours, cover bands
or live pub rock for the first half
of the night and Euro-techno, hip-
hop and Eurovision classics for the
latter half.
Young (20s-30s).
By day, a very mixed
crowd—tourists, university
students, professionals, bums,
grandparents, teens on a
comedown, Grapevine staff.
At night, your basic Icelander—
The Real Iceland, suburbanites,
out-of-towners, fishermen, the
tribal-tattooed brigade, average
Joes, average Janes, floozies,
students, single mothers on an
odd night out, people on stag
nights and hen nights.
They have a large outdoor area
in the back which is great in the
summer and is sometimes used
to host special events. They also
feature a covered, heated-up
smoking area (which is fucking
awesome). The place is generally
quite roomy, pretty clean and not
too grimy (although that changes
as the night goes on).
A place to go when you're in
high spirits and valuing romantic
conquest over good music. – RE
Kaffibarinn
Bergstaðastræti 1
A cosy pub and coffee house
by day, Kaffibarinn by night
transforms into the Reykjavík
party that never ends. Its steamy
windows vibrate with pounding
music from midweek through the
weekend, when there's often a
queue after midnight. At that point,
the atmospheric main bar area
becomes a packed dance floor,
beyond which there's a crowded
backroom, a smoking yard, and
a second floor for overspill. As
well as the assembled best and
brightest of 101, the reputation of
the place attracts its fair share of
suits and celebrities, drunks and
oddballs. You could be standing
next to anyone.

750

1150

800
Peak-time DJs tend towards the
Pitchfork end of dubstep, electro
and house in recent times. There
are various DJs most nights, and
in the daytime you can expect
current sounds like Wild Nothing,
Ariel Pink, or whatever the bar
staff are into.
Young (20s-30s)
101 rats, grizzly regulars, legends,
dancing queens, the bright and
the beautiful, hipster locals,
dressed-up tourists, fresh-faced
up 'n' comers, artists, writers,
Icelandic pop stars, bohemians,
seen-it-all cynics, professional
drinkers, musicians, old-timers,
wastoids, scene royalty, wide-
eyed Íslandophiles.
Kaffibarinn is an iconic kind of
joint: atmospheric, careworn and
dark, with maroon wooden walls,
cosy seating, candlelight, corners
to hide in, free wi-fi, free waffles
on Sundays, and something good
happening most nights.
A Reykjavík institution—amidst
an ever-changing array of local
clubs and bars, Kaffibarinn remains
the evergreen centre of the city's
nightlife. – JR
Kaffi Sólon
Vegamótastígur 4
Kaffi Sólon is an upscale establishment
that still maintains a laidback, casual,
and comfortable aura, as long as you
keep it classy. It’s more of a restaurant
than a bar, but like every other
restaurant, coffee shop, bookstore,
church, gas station, and house in
Reykjavik, it transforms into a bar on
Friday and Saturday nights.

750

2100

990
A little Sinatra, a little misc. soft
jazz, never unpleasant.
Older (40+)
People who go to meetings, well-
behaved tourists, the engaged
couple having that awkward
dinner with the stoic father-in-law.
It has a high, beautiful ceiling (look
up), tables lit by pretty candles,
decorated with expensive art
that’s also for sale.
Go to Prikið to get a hook up, go to
Kaffi Sólon to go on a date (maybe
with a person, maybe just with the
food). – SS
Kaldi
Laugarvegur 20b
Chilled and friendly bar that is perfect
to start the evening at.

1000

1100

1100
Ambitious electro-pop.
Young (20s-30s).
Trendy graduate students.
Freshly brewed beer.
It's perfect for beer lovers. – ÓD
KEX Hostel
Skúlagata 28
KEX is a hostel, and feels like a
hostel. This sounds awful, but
isn't. The tourists are young, hot,
and mostly pleasant, and the bar
is quickly becoming a favourite
amongst locals as well. The bar
is spacious and filled with cool
vintage knick-knacks, including
old sewing tables. The décor and
ambiance are cool but you won't
feel like you're in Williamsburg,
which is my biggest fear in basically
any city. KEX isn't just a good bar
because it's one of relatively few
choices in a relatively tiny city; it
would be a good bar in any city, but
has a dreamy view of the sea that is
truly Reykjavík.

950

1100

800

The music is very quiet if there
isn't a live band, and seems to be
mostly country and folk.
Young (20s-30s).

Girls with bangs (about 50%
are tourists), dudes with beards
(about 50% are tourists), old guys
who look like they're into critical
theory and BDSM (about 50% are
tourists).
KEX has a menu of affordable
treats, including full meals that are
too good to be fairly called "bar
food."
I would have sex with at least 65%
of the people in KEX and would
drink there even if this figure were
much lower. – AS
KiKi
Laugavegur 22
Kiki feels very exclusive because
it's small, up a dark flight of stairs,
and only open two nights a week
(Friday and Saturday). The loud
music and intimate atmosphere is
conducive to dancing, mingling,
and maybe taking somebody
home, but the place never quite
fills up, thus never quite reaches its
full potential. The drink prices are
exceptionally high, which might
be because Kiki, the only gay club
in town at the moment, has no
competition.

900

2000

2000

Very loud and consistently up-
beat pop.
Young (20s-30s)

Cute middle aged gay couples,
folks from LGBTQ tour groups,
young guys who've just come out,
people who don't know it’s a gay
bar, women.
It’s Reykjavík's only gay club, so
it’s got that going for it.
They've got that painted rainbow
behind the bar! – SS
Kaffi Zimsen
Hafnarstræti 18
At the time of arrival, a young
crowd has filled the dance floor,
dancing stylishly to Beyoncé songs
crossfading into each other. One
mainstream beat gives way to the
next, and a fresh batch of just 20
somethings make out furiously.
Excited youths come in waves,
hoping to get lucky. Do not show
up before 1:00 AM unless you are
desperate for a heart to heart with
staff members.

850

1100

900
Zimsen plays ultra-mainstream
music as if it were hip, and they
play it very loudly. If you can’t
dance to it, and haven’t heard
it on at least five different radio
stations, you won’t hear it at
Zimsen. DJs freshen the place
up during the week, but you will
get exactly the music you expect
during the weekends.
Young (20-30s).
Barely legal teenagers who
stay up all night to get lucky,
professional dancers, people
who wish they were professional
dancers, well-dressed knobs
who desperately want to prove
themselves, kids so young they
make anyone from the ‘80s feel
fossilised.
It features a large dance floor
filled with kids who’ve all put on
their best threads in the hopes
of impressing. There is a quiet
corner where you might be able
to attempt conversation with your
newly found date.
The relentless pursuit of predictable,
enjoyable hedonism. – TGB
Kofi Tómasar Frænda
(Kofinn)
Laugavegur 2
What is a completely unassuming
daytime coffee shop and eatery
turns into a sloppy, top-40 remix,
off-beat thrusting and fist pumping
disaster in the night-time. I can't
tell who is local and who is a tourist
because everyone is wearing a
Gore-Tex jacket, but their pants look
like they're from Dressman.

900

1000

1000
Overly dedicated DJs who take
uptempoing "Gangam Style" and
"Get Lucky" way too seriously.
Too young (under 20)
Mainstream enthusiasts who
are really into Beyoncé remixes,
teenagers, middle-aged
questionable tourists, guys who
wear unbuttoned polo shirts
without a coat, one guy dressed
head to toe in Jamaican flag
colours, the entire morning staff
from Hressó!
They serve sushi from the
restaurant upstairs, Sakebarinn,
and have Víking's special Sumaröl
(“Summer beer”) on tap.
I've made a huge mistake. – RL
Kolabrautin
Austurbakki 2
While Kolabrautin is a prestigious
fine-dining restaurant on the top
floor of Harpa, its cocktail bar
seems to be a neglected child of
the fancy resto. What used to be
the go-to spot to get a marvellously
composed cocktail is now nothing
but an unattended reminder of
what once was—dirty tables,
crappy service and bad cocktails.

900

1300

1100
Lounge-ish background beat.
23 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 7 — 2013THE GRAPEVINE'S BIG-ASS BAR GUIDE 2013