Grillmarkaðurinn or 'The grill market' is a fine dining restaurant located in the heart of Reykjavík. Grill market honors everything Icelandic, from the food to the interior.
The interior is taken from local materials such as tanned skins of spotted wolffish, columnar basalt, moss, and trestles. Also, all of their meat is brought straight from local Icelandic farmers.
The owner Gulli states that "By purchasing most of our goods from people we know and trust we can be sure that we are serving our customers the best products available. Additionally, supporting local farmers is important to us and makes business more pleasurable and personal".
My personal experience with Grillmarkaðurinn was very pleasurable. I had the horse meat (yes, that's right. Hate on me!) and it was cooked to perfection, seasoned to perfection, it was just perfection! It was on my birthday, and even though we had reserved a table we were made to wait around 40 minutes due to how busy the restaurant was.
This was no problem, we just calmly got drunk at the bar whilst we waited. Even though we made no fuss about the wait, the staff were so helpful and friendly and even provided us with free starters and dessert. The dessert was in a big boat and had various different desserts.
I don't know a single person that dislikes the food there, and the atmosphere makes the experience so much better. It's so damn cozy! Be sure not to fall asleep!
Make sure you book in advance, as Grillmarkaðurinn is one of Iceland's most popular restaurants!
