Reykjavík Grapevine - maj 2020, Qupperneq 22

The Reykjavík Grapevine
Best of Reykjavík 2020
22
/hjahollu www.hjahollu.is
Hjá Höllu is a cozy restaurant located in the town
of Grindavík where you can enjoy many healthy
dishes in just five minute drive from the Blue Lagoon.
Fresh fish from the harbour, chicken, salad and
vegetarian/vegan options.
Wood-oven pizza
ready 5 minutes
Fresh local
health food
Healthy meal
for your flight
We are also located in Keflavík Airport where you
can get a healthy meal to enjoy or take away in time
before your flight.
“Your first and last stop”
Over the past year, Keto has be-
come a full-blown fad in Iceland.
Well over 3% of the population
has joined the Keto Iceland group
on Facebook, and restaurants and
grocery stores are clambering
aboard the bandwagon.
The diet is quite complicated,
as it revolves around eating less
than 20 grams of net carbohy-
drates per day, which is supposed
to bump the body into a state of
ketosis, causing it to start burn-
ing fat for energy instead of carbs
and protein. Google it before you
go nuts. Please.
Pizza pizzazz
(hold the crust)
The Grandi Mathöll pizza joint
Skjaldbakin offered the first keto
pizza in Iceland and it is still con-
sidered by many to be the best.
They offer quite a few toppings
combinations, so you’re not likely
to get bored anytime soon. Piz-
zan also changed the game last
year when they started offering
keto pies, in two versions, and
keto breadsticks, which is a real
lifesaver for those that are start-
ing out and haven’t quite figured
out the grocery shopping. Not to
mention, they deliver. Pizzan also
offers a keto ice cream, although
we’re not sure if eating the whole
tub by yourself will benefit your
health. You decide.
Café life (pastries
forbidden)
The keto chicken salad at Kaffi
Laugalækur is kind of perfect, in
a keto way. It’s a green salad con
coction with chicken, eggs, and
bacon shreds, topped with garlic
sauce. Simple, but the raw mate-
rials are top-notch. The place is
great too. They serve great coffee
from a small roaster (if you don’t
like black coffee or espresso go for
the cortado with coconut milk),
and they have a lovely kids corner.
An all-rounder. For a downtown
newly reopened classic, there’s
also the Laundromat Café. They
offer keto versions of all the burg-
ers, their baked salmon and their
bearnaise steak.
A fancy night (no
bread, only butter)
A pioneer, Kröst were among the
first to offer a keto burger, which
still holds its own, and most of
their menu has keto options,
although you do have to ask the
staff. Other than that, the sim-
plest options for keto fine din-
ing are the steakhouses such as
MEAT and Hereford. Matark-
jallarinn and Sjávargrillið also
offer keto modifications to their
menu.
Fast fast fast food
Culiacan, the tex-mex fast food
joint, offers three keto-friendly
options, and noodle joint Wok
On offers a zucchini noodle base
to keep your carbs in check. Salad
spot Local offers three ready keto
bowls, and Black Box Pizza does
a couple of pizza options and a
keto bowl, which we quite liked.
Bike Cave’s keto burger gets a
mention too. If you venture far
out in the suburbs, Gullnesti in
Grafarvogur offers a keto burger.
Hyper-cheerful family-oriented
burger joint Fabrikkan offer a
keto bowl, no word on the burg-
ers though. Subway offers some
salad options that are keto, ask
the staff. Health food joint Saf-
fran’s keto chicken also deserves
a mention.
For the vegetarians
This category is unfortunate-
ly very slim, especially since
the carbon footprint on mostly
meat-based dishes is not great.
Gló is the only party we know of,
although their veggie keto bowl is
more low-carb than keto, clock-
ing in at around 25 g. of carbs.
They also offer a keto chicken
salad and a keto burger, which
is quite popular. Kröst can cus-
tom-make a vegetarian keto burg-
er, with their Beyond Meat patty
It works without bacon, but if
you skip the egg, it’s quite sparse.
Here’s hoping that in the future
more of the vegan restaurant biz
will try to get the low-carb crowd
in. One can only dream.
GUIDE
Become A Keto
Kardashian
We would never eat bread, are you serious?
Words: The Grapevine’s Carb-Hating Department
Photo: Art Bicnick