Reykjavik Food Tour Review: The Best Thing to do In Reykjavik for Iceland First-Timers

This post may contain affiliate links wherein I earn a small commission if you purchase or subscribe to a product from one of my links (at no extra cost to you!). Read my full Privacy & Affiliate Policy here.

---

If it’s your first time to Iceland and you’re unfamiliar with the food scene, there is no better way to kick off your trip than with a food tour in the capital city of Reykjavik!

Reykjavik’s food scene is impressive. There are so many top-rated restaurants that I personally was overwhelmed with where to start. I mean, I want to experience them all but I thought – let’s have the pros guide me in the right direction. Even us professional eaters need a little help sometimes!

So, on our first trip to Iceland, we booked the Reykjavik Food Walk with Wake Up Reykjavik for our first full day. Our small group made our way around the city to some great foodie spots sampling some traditional Icelandic foods, along with a few modern foods featuring Icelandic ingredients. It was 100% the best way to ease into our trip!

Why This Tour?

The Reykjavik Food Walk has been featured as one of the highest rated food tours on Trip Advisor in the world! And with over 19,000 reviews on Trip Advisor, it is consistently ranked as the top-rated tour in all of Iceland.

Food tours in general are such a great intro to any destination – you get to know the city you’re in, learn a little bit about the culture, and get to taste amazing food and drinks with fellow travelers while you’re at it! These tours are the best way to get comfortable in an unfamiliar place.

Book The Food Walk on Get Your Guide

Guide & Group Info

Meet our food tour guide, Ben. You would be so lucky to have him leading you through the streets of Reykjavik! If not, I am confident all the other guides with Wake Up Reykjavik are just as engaging and entertaining.

All food tours with Wake Up Reykjavik are small group tours with a maximum of 14 people (we had nine people in our group) and are led by local Icelanders that are passionate about their country, its food, and history.

reykjavik Weather Report

It rained consistently the day of our tour, which was actually just fine – I’d rather have it rain while we were walking around the city versus exploring the country’s amazing scenery! Unfortunately, this did mean limited time sightseeing within the city. However, that also meant more time cozying up in the restaurants chatting with our guide and food-loving companions.

If there’s one thing to know about travel to Iceland – it’s that you need to be prepared for any kind of weather to pop up. I layered up every day we were in Iceland, and our food tour day was no exception.

Here’s Everything I Wore On Our Rainy Day Food Tour:

• Long-sleeved shirt
• Vest
• Fleece jacket
• Rain jacket (women’s) / men’s (what my husband wore)
• Beanie
• Water-resistant fleece-lined leggings
• Wool socks
• Waterproof boots (Amazon) / Timberland site (not my exact model but something similar since they don’t make mine anymore; fine for rainy weather but would need nano/microspikes for icy conditions)
• Backpack
• Optional: waterproof backpack cover (which my friends used and I didn’t need (but had just in case) since my backpack is relatively waterproof)

Food Tour Meeting Point

All tours meet at the Harpa Concert Hall, which is an architectural marvel. Give yourself enough time to arrive early and explore the hall a little bit before your tour. It’s free to wander around and admire!

No matter the stops, you’re sure to fill up on some incredible food.

Stop 1: Mat Bar

From the Harpa Concert Hall, we made our way to the first stop on our food tour in Reykjavik – Mat Bar. Coincidentally, this just happened to be located right next door to the hotel we were staying at. Suffice it to say, we got our steps in making a roundtrip back to this spot first thing.

Sadly, Mat Bar has closed since we visited. However, we had the most amazing grilled lamb steak here topped with a wasabi pesto and Feykir – a rich sheep’s milk cheese produced in Iceland.

We washed everything down with a cold pint of Viking IPA! Drinks were not included on this tour but we were fine paying extra to enhance our foodie experience. When in Iceland, drink like Vikings 😉

Lamb is an important staple in Icelandic cuisine with people often saying Icelandic lamb is the best they’ve ever had (and I’d agree with that sentiment!).

I’m typically not a huge fan of the flavor profile of lamb, but this was unlike anything I’ve tasted before. It was so tender and didn’t have a strong gamey flavor like lamb can often have. This was also one of my husband’s favorite bites of food on our entire trip to Iceland!

We liked Mat Bar so much we came back for dinner one night before our Northern Lights Tour (plus, it was just convenient being next to our hotel). I’m super sad to see them go but equally excited to see what pops up in their place.

Stop 2: Sjávargrillið

Website | Skólavörðustígur 14, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland

This next stop was one of my personal favorites, not only on the tour, but of all the spots we ate at in Iceland!

Without being on this food tour, we may have never come here. And that’s one of the beauties of a food tour – it could take you to unexpected places to try dishes you never would have on your own.

But First, the Fermented Shark

On this tour, expect to conquer the dreaded fermented shark (hákarl) with shots of Black Death (Brennivín – Iceland’s national drink). You may have heard about this infamous “rotten shark” during your research on Iceland and might be wondering if you should be so bold to try it. My answer: try everything once!

Hákarl is not a food that’s eaten on the regular in Iceland but it does have historic and cultural significance. So rather than focusing on it as an enjoyable bite, it’s more so a chance for your guide to explain a little piece of Iceland’s past.

The method: skewer a piece of fermented shark with a toothpick, chew a few times to release the flavor, and then chase it with a shot of Black Death.

Black Death isn’t black at all (and a great question for your guide would be to ask about the history of its namesake). It’s actually something called Brennivín – a clear aquavit that (to me) has a flavor profile similar to licorice from the caraway. Trust that you’ll really want that chaser after the shark!

Honest thoughts: although it had a slight ammonia flavor, the shark wasn’t that bad! Would I eat it again? Probably not, but I’m glad I tried it.

Perhaps we had a more mild version here – some say the taste of ammonia can get pretty strong at other places. If you’re wanting to sample it without feeling like you’re going to spit it out (or feel pressured to eat more than one piece), come here. Better yet, just join this food tour!

Best Bites in Iceland?

Once we got over that fermented shark hump, we moved onto two of the most delicious things we had on our entire trip: a warm seafood soup that was so comforting on a rainy day and crispy “lobster” tacos.

These little lobster tacos came topped with an interesting mix of garlic aioli, spinach, pickled red onions, date puree, and Parmesan cheese, making for a truly unique bite of food. I’ve craved them often since our tour!

These dishes were the perfect follow up to the adventurous bites of shark and shots of Brennivín.

Lobster notes: lobster in Iceland is typically langoustine – a large shrimp with delicate, sweet meat.

Stop 3: Sæta Svínið Gastropub

Website | Hafnarstræti 1-3, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland

Next up was a walk to a gastropub called Sæta Svínið, located in a former falcon house that’s 150 years old!

To start: a large Ulfur IPA (at our own expense of course) – and in a boot no less (my husband’s choice). We were in a gastropub known for their beer selection so what else could we say but “when in Rome.”

Our foodie bites here included cured arctic char, a local fish that you simply must try in Iceland, served on a traditional Icelandic flatbread (flatkaka) with arugula (rucola/rocket) cream cheese, dill, and lemon oil. This was another favorite bite from the tour. The texture of arctic char is so dreamy! Move over smoked salmon…

We also had slow-cooked lamb shoulder with a tarragon sauce, rucola mayo, and pickled cabbage. This dish was a little heavier on that traditional lamb flavor, but still very good. I definitely preferred the grilled lamb from our first stop but was nice to get a second lamb dish to have a variety in the preparations.

Benefits of coming here on a tour: sample-sized portions!

Stop 4: Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur

Website | Tryggvagata 1, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland

And here we’ve come to an iconic food and an Iceland favorite: the Icelandic hot dog! No food tour of Reykjavik would be complete without an Icelandic hot dog and Bæjarins is the OG, operating since 1937.

Sausages were introduced to Iceland by the Danes and Icelanders adapted the ingredients to incorporate their famous lamb. These hot dogs (pylsur/pylsa) are made with a blend of lamb, beef, and pork. They have an excellent snap and do have a bit of a mild lamb flavor profile.

You’ve got to try one with all the toppings for a quintessential experience, even if you don’t typically like some of these things: raw and fried onions, sweet mustard, ketchup, and a remoulade sauce.

I thought they were delicious and we definitely ate Icelandic hot dogs on more than one occasion! They’re also an affordable meal on the go, which can be hard to come by in a country with steep food prices.

Can you come here on your own? Of course! But it’s more fun to have your first Icelandic hot dog experience with a group.

Our final stop: Borg Restaurant

Website | Pósthússtræti 11, Pósthússtræti 9, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland

To end on a sweet note, our final stop on the tour was at Borg Restaurant for Happy Marriage Cake (Hjónabandssæla) with coffee and tea.

Happy Marriage Cake is an oat cake with rhubarb and ours came topped with ice cream. My husband and I both love rhubarb with desserts so this was the perfect ending to our tour!

At this point, we made sure to ask Ben for his recommendations for other restaurants in the city (some I had on my list, some new). It never hurts to ask the locals what their favorite spots are – they might surprise you!

Food Tour Benefits

If you’re hesitant to take a food tour, let me tell you about all my favorite reasons for taking them, even as a seasoned foodie traveler:

Portion sizes are more manageable. When food tours work with restaurants, they coordinate sample-sized tastings of dishes so you don’t get overwhelmingly full (although I will say, we did get full on this tour!). If you do this on your own, you’re going to have to pay for (and consume) full-sized dishes.

Destination history: one of the best parts about food tours outside of all the amazing food is getting to know a destination through your guide. I loved to hear the history of how Icelanders name their children, for instance, and what their genealogy practices are like.

Language barriers: If you speak English, this isn’t a huge concern in Iceland as English is widely (and very well) spoken. However, in many other destinations, language can be a bit of a barrier and having a guide can help alleviate some of that initial stress.

Entertainment: Guides have the potential to set the tone for a whole trip, and Ben really made us feel comfortable as visitors to Iceland. He was funny, engaging, and entertaining, which really elevated our experience.

Pro Tip: I always recommend doing a food tour at the start of your trip. Not only do you set yourself up for success with ordering at restaurants on your own, it’s just a great way to relax and feel comfortable in a foreign destination right away.

---

This was easily one of the best food tours we’ve ever been on. Truly, Iceland has some incredible food. You might not think it as it’s known for being a scenery-driven destination, but I hope to change your mind on that. Heck, just take this food tour and you’ll see what I’m talking about!

If you found my Reykjavik food tour review helpful and end up taking this food tour on your trip to Iceland, be sure to drop me a comment below or shoot me an email and let me know how it went!