Reykjavík Grapevine - Aug 2021, Page 29

Food 29The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 08— 2021Food
Svala Reykjavík
You’re torn: on the one hand, you
could grab a delicious burger; on
the other hand, you could make the
“healthy” choice. Luckily, Svala has
solved this dilemma. The smoothie
bowls are filled to the brim with
things like succulent nuts, granola,
fruits, and chia seeds—we particu-
larly loved the Prince Charming—
meaning you get to feel full and bet-
ter than your fellow lunch patrons
without sacrificing taste. And then
there’s the drinks. Everything from
the green smoothie to the Boom
beet juice (a must-order) felt like a
want, not a should.
Umami Sushi Bar
Oh yeah, there’s sushi too. Named
after that elusive fifth basic taste,
this restaurant is the place to or-
der the 10 piece Chef’s Special. Take
away your own choice and let the
professionals decide what is the
freshest and most delicious of the
day—they know what they’re doing.
That said, you must complement
that with their miso and garlic laced
edamame and tuna tartare.
Hipstur
Hipstur, as you might imagine,
serves up stylish, international
dishes. The offerings, however, are
not simply fusion-for-the-sake-of-
fusion, but intelligent twists on tra-
dition. The bacalao, for instance, is
a traditional Iberian dish with roots
firmly in Iceland. With a side of fo-
caccia (made in-house, of course)
and the overall quality, it represents
a great value. Also on offer are vegan
dishes with wide appeal, including a
delicious open-faced sandwich piled
high with a forest floor’s worth of
mushrooms, horseradish, onions,
apples and other goodies.
Natalía Pizza
God bless Iceland, but they don’t ex-
actly know how to make a pizza. The
Domino’s here has a pizza with dates
and cream cheese on it, for Christ’s
sake. But Natalía pizza goes back to
the source, circumventing Scan-
dinavian misconceptions of what
this flatbread means to the world.
The crust is fired to perfection in a
real oven (with flames and all) and
the toppings are without exception
high-quality and well-paired. Try
the parma ham loaded with greens
for something light and fresh, or
the pizza Natale for gooey, meaty
indulgence.
Pronto Pasta
Reykjavík has been in dire need of
a proper pasta place for years so
you can just imagine the excite-
ment when Pronto Pasta arrived. A
full-on fresh-pasta-cooked-right-
in-front-of-you, it’s got that local
Italian charm that has been sorely
lacking in the Reykjavík food scene.
While you can’t go wrong with a Bo-
lognese, here’s the secret: Get the
mushroom pasta, with lovely cream
sauce, and put some shrimp on it.
This dish was recommended not
only by the chef of Pronto, but the
owners of Borg29 (and Wok On) and
Yuzu, along with other local food-
ies we talked with after. Seriously,
conversations after we mentioned
we stopped by Borg29 included, “Did
you get that shrimp mushroom pas-
ta?” Yes, we did.
Check out Borg29 at Borgartún 29.
PASTA! TACOS! NOODLES! SUSHI! BURGERS! HEALTHY JUICES!
Everythin!
That Time The
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