reykjavik / iceland on the cheap???

[jen]

i am going to iceland for 4 days and i wanted to learn about affordable street/restaurant/snack food that i could eat in reykjavik or beyond since i have a car. thanks!

[mdibiaso]

This is sort of an oxymoron. But look for hot dog stands or go into supermarkets and buy foods you can eat cold or prepare yourself if you have camping equipment. It still won't be cheap. This is an island that is a several hour flight from everywhere that has to import most food except fish. It also have a very high tax right and high employee costs. So cheap just doesn't not exist. Avoid all types of alcohol and drinks like coca cola to keeps costs down. Drink tap water instead.

[cabrales]

I've only been to Reykjavik once, and it was with little time as it was a day-trip from London. We spent time at the Blue Lagoon spa or on a bus. I don't recall seeing street vendors, from the bus, though. Even Reykjavik is not that "city"-like, relative to US or Western European cities.

http://www.bluelagoon.is/english/

I doubt the local cuisine is particularly impressive. You might as well bring canned food, like canned fish (the ones that don't require can openers), to eat, to save money. The next time I go to Reykjavik (if ever), I will bring along some canned foie gras and mini toasts.

[AndieCat]

I agree on bringing food --everything is so expensive in Iceland! If I went back I would carry some nutrigrain bars and other goodies. I had a decent meal in Reykjavik at a vegetarian restaurant (sorry, can't remember the name, it was recommended by the hotel, this was 5 years ago -- it is strange that it was vegetarian, in a culture where fish is often at the center) but it cost a fortune. I also had a fish stew in a fishing village and it was mediocre (and expensive). The smoked salmon is excellent (but not cheap).

The blue lagoon is very nice -- very worthwhile regardless of price (I don't think it was so expensive for Iceland).

[msfoob]

the food in iceland is very expensive and not terribly interesting. (except for the good lamb and very fresh fish.) Buy whatever you can in the duty free store when you land there. (There's a grocery store in the airport.) There is a nice local blue cheese and the yogurt-like stuff is very good. Gravlax is cheap and good. Breakfast will no doubt be included in the price of your hotel. Try the "sour milk" with cereal. It's delicious.
I love Iceland even though it is not an ideal spot for a chowhound!

[jen kalb]

How's the bread in iceland? Its a scandinavian country so I imagine there are good bakeries and good butter, and sandwich fixings would be possible - yeah, maybe the restaurant scene is not ideal for a budget tourist but the normal icelanders DO eat. Nutrigrain bars and the like have to be a last resort - you are not on a mars expedition!

[jen kalb]

Heres a link to an iceland restaurant - at least it gives you an idea of the prices for, say soup, bread and salad bar, in a restaurant that claims to have reasonable prices.

Link: http://www.askur.is/menu.htm

[mdibiaso]

I actually think there is some good and interesting food to be had in Iceland. You just cannot do it on the cheap. OK, most places are not really special chowhound places. But places like Vid Tjornina (by the lake which is by the lake) have very good food, atmosphere and unique Icelandic ingredients like cod cheeks and chins and Puffins (those seabirds all over the coast). The lamb is also very good and much more tasty than the normal lamb you get in a supermarket in the US or Europe. BUT. It is very expensive, especially for the good stuff. This is really no different than a place like Hawaii or the Bahamas (I guess on the Bahamas having never been there but I do not about Hawaii) which has to fly many things in and has in general I high cost of living and labor. So why not fill up on the hotel breakfast (which is probably included) and then work grocery stores and bakeries for most meals concentrating on local ingredients. And splurge for one or two meals at a nice place focused on local ingredients. But I personally would find it hard to go to a place like the one on the menu linked above. It is industrial food (chicken bits, pasta with packaged sauces, hamburgers) that you can get at 10 million different places around the world (Hard Rock Cafe's TGI Fridays....) and it probably will be on the low end of that scale (which is not a great scale to begin with). But as a real chowhound you at least have to try out some of the local ingredients like the sour milk with your corn flakes.

[jen kalb]

I agree with you, Mark. For me one of the major joys of travelling on the cheap, or at all, is foraging for local food, going to bakeries, supermarkets, etc. To me that, rather than looking for street food or such would be the way to get by relatively inexpensively. Carrying food - be it snack bars or foie gras - unless you have dietary restrictions seems like a waste of a travel opportunity. There will always be food markets and diner equivalents where the traveler can get a glimpse of how icelanders live.

And I agree - I personally would never choose the restaurant I linked to show indicative prices, because it sounds so bland - tho I suspect something like soup and bread and salad might be ok. For real restaurants there is another link describing many which I am sure the OP can find if she is interested.

ps - friends of mine who spent a couple of weeks in iceland did say that they had some fine plain meals in restaurants there.

[Abp Stigand]

When I was in Iceland I enjoyed going to the supermarkets and picking up bread and assorted paalegg (not sure what the Icelandic for this is - things to put on bread, anyway) and making myself open sandwiches. Perhaps it's my Scandinavian blood, but for me there's nothing like good wholesome bread with a good choice of cheese, smoked fish and meat, especially after an invigorating day out in a country as beautiful as Iceland.

I'm sad that I didn't get to try hakarl (Iceland's famous cured - some would say rotten - shark treat) while I was there. Has anyone tried it? If so, any feedback?

[Agnes Gooch]

The hot dogs are delicious. They are made out of a mixture of lamb and pork so they have a very unique taste. They are the cheapest meal you can find. Nothing is affordable in Reykjavik - even a falafel or kebab pita from a takeout window costs about $6.

Once you get outside of Reykjavik, your restaurant options are really limited unless you are in Akureyri. The restaurants you find once you get on the ring road are either Pizza places, or a combination of gas station, grocery store, restaurant, video poker parlor. They will have hot dogs, a few open faced sandwiches and maybe one hot dish available, like a lamb stew.

[AmeliaIda]

Do you have any Akureyri suggestions? There are a few restaurants here including a vegetarian cafe, curry hut, Thai buffett, and even sushi bar.

[AmeliaIda]

images of some cuisine: