Reykjavík Grapevine - 06.05.2016, Side 50

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N E W A W A R D
B E S T T H A I F O O D 2 0 1 5
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A L S O B E S T 2 0 0 9, 2 0 1 0, 2 0 1 1, 2 0 1 2, 2 0 1 3 a n d 2 0 1 4
m a n y f a m o u s p e o p l e a r e r e g u l a r s h e r e“ “
BanThai
Food
THEY'RE COMING!
Reykjavík's Very
Own Tivoli
AUSTURSTRÆTI
AUSTURSTRÆTI
Austurvöllur
P
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VALLARSTRÆTI
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KIRKJUSTRÆTI
Opening hours
Sunday - Thursday 11:00 - 02:00
Friday - Saturday 11:00 - 06:00 - FIND US ON FACEBOOK
dirtyburgerandribs.is
Words by CAIRAN DALY Photos by ART BICNICK
Upon my return to Reykjavík last
weekend from Denmark, I was
pretty surprised to be greeted by
a decidedly Danish addition to the
downtown scene in the form of
Tivoli Bar.
If you’ve ever been to Copenha-
gen, you’ll know Tivoli Gardens
as the second-oldest amusement
park in the world. It’s a vaguely ter-
rifying place—sort of like “It’s A
Small World” meets ‘Children Of
Men’. There are lots of imprisoned
wooden robots that sing Christmas
songs with handpainted eyes that
seem to beg for the sweet release of
death. It gives me panic attacks.
Point being that I was immedi-
ately suspicious when I saw Tivoli
Bar emerge, fully formed, out of
the ashes of its former occupant,
the beloved trash-heap Dolly. Half-
empty most of the time and bor-
derline dangerous the rest, that
bar’s drugged-up barnyard vibe
was famous for injecting more
than a bit of grit into the city’s
nightlife.
I would not have gone to Dolly,
nor its new Danish-sounding re-
placement, out of choice. In this
world, though, choice is an illu-
sion—and I am lucky that this is
so, because ending up at Tivoli Bar
on Saturday night is something I
do not regret whatsoever.
Reykjavík has long been famed
for its total dearth of affordable,
tasty, and well-made cocktails.
Sure, good cocktails are out there,
but they cost an arm and a leg and
you’re unlikely to write home about
anything you get at, say, Bar Ananas.
Tivoli Bar mixes things up in this
regard. Its cocktail menu is short
and sweet, but it’s given pride of
place on the bar. Their margarita is
a little on the small side for 1,000
ISK and it could’ve been the fact I
was already half-cut, but it was
possibly one of the best margaritas
I’ve ever drank—and I’ve been to
Mexico.
Even if you don’t end up buying
a cocktail, the squad of handsome,
ponytailed men constantly doing
Cocktail Stunts at the bar really adds
to the atmosphere which, inciden-
tally, is pumping. I was there on a
Saturday, which may not be repre-
sentative of the entire week, but ev-
eryone in the bar was dancing.
This is in part thanks to the
management’s skilful poaching of
frankly excellent DJs from across
the city. The aesthetic of the place
is Kaffibarinn meets Húrra, with
the music evocative of a slightly
less weird Paloma. There are nice,
plush booths scattered around the
bar if you want to sit down, but this
really is a place to “shake it," in the
parlance of our times.
The one thing I didn't really like
about it was the smoking area.
Smoking areas are the lifeblood of
after-dark social life in this city,
and maybe it was the rain, but
standing outside by the dumpsters
and a fire escape is pretty depress-
ing. There's also a rather deep and
small trench by the door, which I
was able to fall into and graze my
ankle on. If they fixed the trench
and built some rain cover, it would
really improve.
I didn’t get the chance to go up-
stairs, but I have also heard whis-
perings of a VIP area with booths
and, presumably, a lot of used 1,000
ISK notes lying around. That’s not
my game, but if you’re a young
wannabe Danish dad who’s into
shirt collars and spunking an ob-
scene amount of money on a bottle
of liquor and a chair and a table at
somewhere like Austur, Tivoli Bar
is a grungier (and more affordable)
alternative, if you’re looking to mix
things up a bit.
Tivoli Bar really has something
for everyone—except small chil-
dren, epileptics, and metalheads.
But those guys are never pleased.
SHARE: gpv.is/tivoli
New In Town
50The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 5 — 2016