Not Hungry in Iceland

We’ve all heard about it. It is not cheap to eat out in Iceland. So how do you manage your budget there and yet still be able to try out their specialties?

The 8 of us do have the Asian appetite and when we eat out we ordered the portion for just 4 people and share the food. Thanks to Icelanders, they do understand this Asian appetite and they encourage sharing too!

On other days, we will cook, so do look out for Air B&B for accommodation with kitchen facilities.

The supermarket was our favourite place in Iceland. Be it Bonus, Netto or Kronan, we been them all. Many people said that Bonus is the cheapest, but sometimes Bonus may be out of the way or certain items were only found in certain supermarket. To us, the prices did not vary very much, so well, just go to the nearest supermarket you can find. For fresh meat and seafood, find the Fisk Company. For booze, head to their wine shop — Vinbudin.

Our many groceries shopping which usually comes out to be about SGD100 per trip:

Home-cooked Food

We were blessed to have chef Kenneth in the house! See what he had whipped out for us!

See the variety of home-cooked food we had and there were many more! Other than getting our groceries from the supermarket, we also brought from home some of the cheat packs like instant noodles, porridge, etc. We had pork meat porridge on 1 cold day and it was so tummy-warming. Yumz!

Our prized items from our various groceries shopping had got to be the La Choy soy sauce and it claims to be better than Kikkoman! With this, we were able to have our steam fish, stir-fried vegetables and even fried rice, taste that is nearer to home!

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Some of the memorable food we had eating out in Iceland:

Fish & Chips

The best Fish & Chips in Iceland got to be Sveitagrill Miu – Mia’s Country Grill. A food truck located at Skogafoss. For Kr 2,000 (approx SGD 30) You get quite a big piece of fish with potato wedges and 1 condiment. The fish was fresh, the batter was light. There are condiments such as the Icelandic tartar sauce (a must try!) and some tasty Icelandic salts. There are picnic tables set up around the truck but unfortunately, it was raining quite heavily that day and we have to settle the meal in our car.

The other place we had fish & chips was at Icelandic Fish & Chips in Reykjavik. It had quite a good rating on Trip Advisor. Having had the yummiest fish & chips at Skogafoss, the fish & chips here was meh…

Lobster soup (Langoustines)

Voted as having the best lobster soup in Iceland on Trip Advisor. Saegreifinn – The Sea Baron is located at the harbour in Reykjavik. The restaurant is small and cramp. Order at the counter and pay. We ordered lobster soup for each of us, some skewers to share. Saw whale meat and we decided to order 1 to try.

The lobster soup was not creamy and tasty enough. There were little lobster meat in it too. So to me it was meh~ especially after we had a better one at Hofn. The whale meat had a not-so-good taste, I guess it was more of an acquired taste? The meat was also quite tough to chew.

I much preferred the lobster soup at Pakkhus Restaurant located at the harbour in Hofn. So creamy and tasty!

Famous for its lobsters, naturally we ordered all lobsters dishes… The lobsters were fresh and cooked to perfection.

The Settlement Center Restaurant in Borgarnes

The Settlement Center located in Borgarnes consists of a restaurant and a museum. The museum holds two exhibitions – The Settlement of Iceland and Iceland’s most famous viking and first poet Egill Skallagrimsson. We were here in the evening after a long drive from Akureyri and the museum was already closed for the day. Luckily the restaurant was opened and we had our most delicious meal out here!

Freshly made bread and the butter with lava sea salt was heavenly

Hotdogs

What? Hotdogs in Iceland?? Are you crazy? Well, no.. some articles even referred hotdogs as Iceland’s de facto national fast food! You see this hotdog stand in Reykjavik — Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur (which translates to “best hot dogs in town”) attracted a long long queue even though it was raining and cold..

What makes Iceland’s hotdog so popular? The hotdogs are made mostly from Icelandic lamb, along with pork and beef and they are organic — free range, grass fed, hormone free.

Our 1st hotdog (and the best) was in a random petrol station at a little town — Seydisfjörður in the East Fjords.  It was served on a warm, steamed bun topped with raw white onions and crispy fried onions, ketchup, sweet brown mustard called pylsusinnep, and remoulade, a sauce made with mayo, capers, mustard, and herbs.  The hotdog was very tasty and I love the crispy fried onions which really add to the wow factor of the hotdog!

Before I end this blog, another traditional Icelandic dish to try is the Icelandic Plokkfiskur. It is usually called Icelandic fish stew in the English menu. I was expecting some cream-based soup with fish meat in it, but no… it looks more like mashed potatoes. It is boiled white fish that is mashed and mixed with potatoes and sauce of onion, butter, flour and milk. It is also served with pieces of dark rye bread.