Reykjavík Grapevine - nov. 2019, Side 12

The Reykjavík Grapevine
Best of Reykjavík 2019
12
Best Goddamn Restaurant
Snaps
Þórsgata 1
Year after year, regardless of how many restaurants open and close,
Snaps remains a timeless classic. Be it lunch, date-night dinner, lazy
weekend brunches or a boisterous Christmas work party, Snaps is the
perfect venue for a boatload of memories. Steady standbys include the
deeply savoury onion soup (with a union of its own, we suspect), the
house-made fries with crispy rosemary that beg to be a meal on their
own, and a textbook crème brûlée topped with an envious snap. As
one panellist concluded, “they are also that rare joint with a 3,000 ISK
bottle of wine.” It isn’t only the food that makes Snaps such a beloved
institution; it’s that hard to pin down the je ne sais quoi that simply
works.
Runners Up
Mat Bar
Hverfisgata 26
Mat Bar’s rapid menu changes make
it hard to pin down a favourite dish
to return for, but hey, change is fun,
too. Consistently experimental, the
kitchen’s focus on the open fire grill
has translated to successful winners
like the scallops, grilled carrots and
cabbage and recently, the dumpling
variations.
SKÁL!
Hlemmur Mathöll, Laugavegur 107
SKÁL! is the street-food avatar of the
famed restaurant Slippurinn. Located in
Hlemmur Mathöll, it’s a stylish and daz-
zling eatery that’s much easier to get to
than its Westman Islands mothership.
With locally-sourced and foraged
ingredients whipped up into ingenious
recipes, SKÁL! simply never fails.
Previous Winners
2018: Mat Bar
2017: Snaps / Matur og Drykkur
2014-6: Snaps
Best Place For A Fancy Meal
Óx
Laugavegur 28
Forget dropping in at Óx, for this
place only takes eleven guests from
Wednesday to Saturday. Visitors are
instructed to arrive at 19:00 sharp for a
two and a half hour food journey, which
combines Icelandic traditional cuisine
with a European flair. You pay upfront
and everything is included—even wine
pairings. It’s truly an intimate experi-
ence unlike anything else you’ll find in
the city. Foodies, don’t miss it.
Runners Up
Grillið
Hotel Saga, Hagatorg
Grillið’s service and level of craft is the
best in town. Think caviar served on a
film of seabuckthorn, or a salt-baked,
glazed beetroot with the consistency of
Turkish delight. Not content with sweet
and unctuous desserts, they layer in
salt and bitterness with effortless stag-
ing; the meringue with Sichuan pepper
is bruléed at the table, sending mauve
streaks of bilberry running through the
ice cream. This is what raising the bar
looks like.
Grillmarket
Lækjargata 2a
The locally-sourced menu of Grillmarket
have been a hit with diners since this
place opened its doors. A favourite
‘fancy place’ for locals, the restaurant
also upped its game by offering fresh,
locally grown Icelandic wasabi. Our
panel suggested pairing the wasabi
with a steak, and something decadent
from the exhaustive wine list.
Previous Winners
2014-8: Dill
Best Tasting Menu
Grillið
Hotel Saga, Hagatorg
Winner winner, five digit chicken dinner.
We are delighted to pay our long-over-
due respects to the grand mama of
Reykjavík fine dining. “Their tasting
menu takes you on this whole journey
that makes you lose all track of time,”
said one of our dreamy-eyed panellists.
When it comes to swank, there is noth-
ing like a 300° view of the cityscape
whilst having your senses assailed by a
menu that celebrates seasonality, com-
plexity and depth without ever giving in
to fussiness. This is old school glamour
meeting a truly innovative kitchen that
blazes a path for ambitious dining.
Runners Up
Mat Bar
Hverfisgata 26
This stylish Hverfisgata restaurant of-
fers a constantly rotating small plates
menu comprising ingenious takes on
familiar ingredients. The best way to
try a few at once is to go for the chef’s
choice tasting menu—everyone gets to
try everything, so the conversation will
flow as smoothly as their excellent wine
and cocktail selections.
Apótek
Austurstræti 16
Apotek’s tasting menu takes quality Ice-
landic ingredients and serves them with
refreshing and interesting twists from
the kitchen. The service is excellent, the
plating is aesthetically pleasing, and the
whole experience is reliably high quality.
A carefree meal at Apotek is the perfect
medicine for a tiring week.
Previous Winners
2017-8: Dill
BEST OF REYKJAVÍK 2019
Dining
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