Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.07.2013, Side 22

22The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 9 — 2013
DINING
AND
GRUBBING
Best Burger:
VITABAR
It was only a matter of time until Vita-
bar would take our ‘BEST BURGER’
prize. After all, those guys have been
serving up their cheap, delicious,
no-fuss burgers to the praise of Reyk-
javík’s most hardcore burger lovers
for decades without ever faltering in
quality, raising their prices beyond
what’s appropriate to pay for a burger
or becoming hopelessly hyped and
crowded. They are a constant; all
good, all the time.
Now, most people will know
them for their Forget-me-not specialty
bleu cheese burger, and that certainly
is one goddamn great burger. Howev-
er, the regular one is just as good (if
not better, if you’re one of those weird
bleu cheese haters): a juicy no-fuss,
quality burger served in a comfort-
able bar setting. It comes with all the
trimmings, and goes wonderfully
with either the first or last of your
weekend’s beers. Respect.
Runners-up: Hamborgarabúlla Tóma-
sar (“They always still kick ass—
sweaty, greasy, meaty”), Grillmarket
(last year’s winners lose points for
raising the price and limited avail-
ability, “but they’re still damn good”),
Roadhouse (“The kind of place that
puts the extra effort into making it
good), 73 (“300 grams of meat—NOT
DRY. An accomplishment”).
2012: Grillmarket
2011: Hamborgarabúlla Tómasar
2010: Hamborgarabúlla Tómasar
2009: Hamborgarabúlla Tómasar
Bergþórugata 21
Best Veggie Burger:
HAMBORGARABÚLLA
TÓMASAR (BÚLLAN)
In this meat lovin’ city, a really good
veggie burger can be hard to find.
Luckily, the burger-grilling stalwarts
at Búllan have provided the vegetar-
ian community with a tasty and
satisfying option that never leaves
one questioning the authenticity of
the “veggie” label, and is still greasy
enough to feel like you’re eating a
proper murderburger. Not some old
dried out chickpea patty that crum-
bles as soon as you put ketchup on
it. Because vegetarians like junk food
too!
2012: Hamborgarabúllan Tómasar
2011: Hamborgarafabrikkan
2010: Saffran
2009: Drekinn
Geirsgata 1
Best ‘Specialty Burger’:
SEASONAL BURGERS
AT HAMBORGARA-
FABRIKKAN
While Hamborgarafabrikkan is a bit
too fancy (pricey) to take the ‘Best
burger’ category, we think it’s the
place to get something special. If
you’re looking for something that
you’d be hard-pressed to eat with
your hands, this sit-down restaurant
has loads of them to choose from—
the whale burger, the goose burger,
the lamb burger, the reindeer burg-
er... Need we say more?
2012: Vitabar’s ‘Forget-me-not’
2011: Vitabar
2010: Hamborgarafabrikkan
2009: Vitabar
Katrínartún 2
Best Slice
DELI
Lo and behold! Deli reclaim the title
of ‘BEST SLICE’, and it’s no wonder.
Getting pizza by the slice in Reykjavík
can be a scary affair—you might just
wind up chewing on something dry
and cardboard-y that has been sitting
in a heater box all day—but such
concerns do not apply at the mighty
Deli on Laugavegur. The slices are
ever-fresh, the toppings are novel
and delicious and the prices are well
acceptable. We only wish they’d stay
open for longer—pizza by the slice
is meant to be enjoyed in a state of
certain inebriation.
Runners-up: Devitos (“Never change,
Devitos”)
2012: Devitos
2011: Deli
2010: Deli
2010: Deli
Bankastræti 14
Best Pizza
GAMLA SMIÐJAN
Although our panel (and a lot of our
readers, judging by mail-ins) have
been dedicated Gamla Smiðjan
eaters for years, the little pizzeria on
Lækjargata took a bit of a dip last
year, falling off their throne of pizza
swords. That must have given them a
real wake up call, because those guys
quickly came back like gangbusters,
conjuring up some of the best pizzas
they’ve ever made! Good to have you
back on top, GS!
Runners-up: Devitos Pizza (“A unique
experience, one of a kind. And tasty.”)
2012: La Luna trattoria-pizzeria
2011: Gamla Smiðjan
2010: Gamla Smiðjan
2009: Devitos Pizza
Lækjargata 8
Best Ice Cream
VALDÍS
This little Italian-style gelato shop in
Grandi has been open for just over a
month but it already has locals froth-
ing at the mouth and standing in long
lines for a couple of scoops. That’s
no coincidence: The menu is an ever-
changing smorgasbord of crowd-
sourced flavours picked by Face-
book fans. They serve freshly baked
waffle cones. And the staff outfits
are charming. Yup, Valdís is just the
ticket to bringing a bit of sunshine to
the cold and grey summer we’ve been
not enjoying lately. We look forward
to seeing Valdís thrive and prosper;
thank you, Valdís.
2012: YoYo
2011: Ísbúðin Ísland
2010: Ísbúðin Ísland
2009: Ísbúð Vesturbæjar
Grandagarður 21
Best Bakery
SANDHOLT
For the third time Sandholt wins this
category, which should not really
come as surprise. It is a little bit
more expensive than the big bakery
chains, but you’ll be hard pressed
to get better value for your money.
They offer all sorts of pastries, choco-
lates, cakes, breads, and sandwiches
that the other bakeries in town don't
and--as our resident Frenchie notes-
-they use real butter in their pastries.
“This is the only bakery in town that is
consistently on point with their baked
goods,” our former food critic says.
“Their products also stand out and
have a richer flavour than anything
else I've tried.”
2012: Mosfellsbakari in Reykjavík
2011: Sandholt
2010: Sandholt
2009: Mosfellsbakari
Laugavegur 36
Best Indian food
AUSTURLANDA-
HRAÐLESTIN
The local institution Austur-Indíafje-
lagið has been boasted to be one of
the all-around best restaurants in
the country, but it’s also rather on
the pricey side! Luckily, the owners
opened this much more affordable
sister-restaurant that cuts back on
cost, but not the taste. Their onion
pakodas are addictive, the aloo gobi
is plentiful and the chicken tandoori
melts in your mouth – and those are
just the standards! It’s still not what
you’d call cheap, but it’s the best in
the biz for your average budget.
2012: Ghandi
2011: Austurlandahraðlestin
2010: Shalimar
2009: Austur-Indíafjelagið
Hverfisgata 64a
Best Thai Food
BAN THAI
Ban Thai has been a constant winner
since we started this BEST OF thing—
actually this Thai operated place has
gone decades without ever failing
to provide Icelanders with the best,
tastiest, most authentic Thai food that
can be found outside Thailand. Ban
Thai is a fancy, sit down kind of Thai
place (with prices to match), where
every single dish off the huge menu is
made to order with great care, shaped
by years of experience. The service
can get flaky, so bring your patience
and good humour to the party (and
never go if you’re in a hurry), but the
yummy food makes it all worth it. A
true Reykjavík treasure.
Runner-up: Yummi Yummi—Ban
Thai’s owner went into competition
with himself a few years back, found-
ing a cheap, fast food alternative
to Ban Thai that’s way easier on the
wallet (every course is 1,000 ISK!).
2012: Ban Thai
2011: Ban Thai
2010: Ban Thai
2009: Ban Thai
Laugavegi 130
Best Kebab
HABIBI
You can’t find a kebab in Reykja-
vík that quite compares to what
you would find in almost any major
European city (and whatever you’ll
find is going to cost you more than
you would expect), but the Icelandic
ones still make for a pretty fast food
option--and they keep getting better.
By now Reykjavík has a handful of
kebab places with the latest one,
Mandi, opening last year right next
door to another one called Ali Baba.
Last year’s winner, Kebab Grill, is still
pretty good, but we thought the title
should return to Habibi, which took
the award in 2011. “Habibi is the only
kebab place that does proper spicy.
If you ask for spicy, you’ll get spicy,”
one of our writers explains. Further-
more: “they offer generous portions
The Best Of Reykjavík!
Grapevine readers, friends, enemies and staff do the choosin’!
By: the usual gang of idiots
Photos by Magnús Andersen, Nanna Dís, Alísa Kalyanova & Yara Polana
Our BEST OF REYKJAVÍK LIST is here! Again we’ve spent
countless hours 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.
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. We need to care about our
surroundings and show love for the things we are thankful for.
As we like 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 neigh-
bourhoods, 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, chanc-
es are you do too.”
What follows are some nice tips on some of what makes
Reykjavík-life worthwhile, some good entries into a hopefully
neverending 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.
Our list is of course by no means a scientific one, and it
is certainly contestable. It should be used as a starting point
for a conversation; something for you to read, verify, distrust,
totally disagree with, argue over, send us angry rants about
and enjoy.
Here’s how we do it: Ever since spring 2009 we’ve been
accepting readers thoughts on what’s BEST at bestof@grape-
vine.is, as well as conducting random polls on our Facebook,
on the street and at the bar. Using your suggestions and argu-
ments for guidance, we then assembled a couple of panels
of tasteful folks that represent most genders, income brack-
ets and political affiliations. Below are the results. Enjoy, and
remember to send your suggestions to bestof@grapevine.is
for consideration in our 2014 edition.
Best Ice Cream: Valdís