Reykjavík Grapevine - 06.01.2017, Page 52

Every time I see tourists shopping
for basic food staples at high-end
grocery stores—including, but not
limited to, loading up on litres of
bottled water—I feel a pang of
sympathy and pity. Sympathy, be-
cause I, too, once didn’t know the
difference between buying food
from 10/11 and Bónus. And pity,
because it’s so easy to avoid burn-
ing your money to this degree.
So as a public service to you, we
at Grapevine have compiled this
short list of ways and means to
eat for a lot less than you might’ve
thought.
1. Know where to shop.
This is key to everything else.
The 10/11 on Austurstræti might
be very conveniently located, and
that location is open round the
clock, but the markup is ridicu-
lous. You’re much better off go-
ing to Bónus—the yellow-themed
grocery store with a weird black-
eyed pig mascot—which has more
food for a whole lot less. Check out
bonus.is for a list of locations and
operating hours near you.
2. DO NOT buy
bottled water.
This is arguably the biggest scam
aimed at tourists. I know you may
come from a country where nearby
roadwork will shake the rust loose
in the pipes and give you spigot-
fuls of brown water, but in Ice-
land, the tap water is literally the
same quality as the bottled water.
This has been proven, over and
over, by every environmental and
water quality measure taken. Save
a plastic bottle, and drink water
from the tap. It’s the same water,
and you’ll save some money.
3. Don’t be afraid
of organs.
Not one for the vegetarians, this,
but lamb hearts, kidneys and liv-
ers are in season again. Yum! And
fortunately for you, a pervading
bourgeois snobbery means most
Icelanders look down on this food,
making it super cheap. Lamb
hearts are particularly succulent,
and at a couple hundred krónur
for a pack of three or four, you’ll
be feeding yourself for days on less
than a bill.
4. Keep your eyes
peeled for Euro
Shopper anything.
Our European readers probably
don’t need to be told this, but if
you hail from North America,
Euro Shopper is a massive, conti-
nent-wide generic foods wholesal-
er. They have the off-brand equiv-
alent of pretty much any variety
of basic food there is. In some
instances, they can even surprise
you: for example, the Euro Shop-
per nacho chips are comprised
solely of corn flour, oil, salt, and
nothing more. Not too shabby for
generic food!
5. Think before you
dine out.
If you have the luxury of going
out to a restaurant, don’t let that
mean that you have money to
burn. Do some comparative se-
lecting between different itera-
tions of the same kind of restau-
rant before picking a place. On the
positive side, you probably won’t
have to worry about waiting staff
upselling you—servers get paid a
living wage in Iceland, and don’t
work for tips. Although, nobody
will stop you from leaving money
on the table.
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Heart & Soul
52The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 01 — 2017
Words PAUL FONTAINE
How to feed yourself and
survive in Reykjavík
Food
Cheap Eats
B E S T T H A I F O O D 2 0 1 6
also : 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
BanThai
R E S T A U R A N T
w w w . b a n t h a i . i s
T O P T E N
BEST RESTAURANTS IN ICELAND
DV. 17.07.11
L a u g a v e g u r 1 3 0, v i ð H l e m m Tel : + 354 - 55-22-444, +354 - 692 - 0564
FOOD IS MADE FRESH FROM SCRATCH,
PAN–FRIED FISH
FISH STEW
Onion, garlic, potatoes, celery, lime,
white wine, cream and butter
1.850 isk
PLAICE
Tomatoes, capers, parsley,
lemon and butter
2.100 isk
ARCTIC CHAR
Honey, almonds, cherry tomatoes,
lemon and butter
2.100 isk
salmon (lactose–free)
Parsley root, broccoli, cashew nuts,
coconut oil, chili and lemon
2.100 isk
Our pan–fried fish is always
served with butter–fried
Icelandic potatoes & fresh salad
desserts
DATE CAKE
Walnuts, coconut,
cream cheese coffee cream,
blueberries and whipped cream
1.400 isk
any
pans
for
lunch?
lækjargata 6b, 101 rvk · 546 0095 · messinn@messinn.com