Category: Eat and Drink - Iceland Monitor

Landed the second prize in the European Street Food Award 2022

12 Oct Sigvaldi Jóhannesson also known as Chef Silli came in second in a competition for the best street food in Europe in Munich in Germany last weekend. This summer he won the preliminary competition here in Iceland that qualified him for the main competition European Street Food Award 2022 which landed him the second price.

Carpe Diem could be this chef's motto

2 Oct When Fanney Dóra Sigurjónsdóttir was around 30 years old she worked as a chef in a Norwegian hotel. She wasn’t planning on staying long but ended up living for five years in Norway and in the UK and her life took a U-turn.

Here is Alba González cooking bacalao in the Salt kitchen.

"I'm in love with your country"

18 Sep "I was surprised by how important fish is for Iceland and how excellent the product is and how it is processed," said the Spanish culinary student Alba González. She is one of the winners in a culinary competition amongst South-European culinary students in cooking salted cod, bacalao. She says there is no doubt in her mind that she will visit the country again.

Great atmosphere at MATEY Food Festival

10 Sep The annual Seafood Festival MATEY ends today in the Westman Islands. The festival has been a great success and four restaurants had guests chefs who put their spin on the excellent local seafood and produce and the menus for the festival showcased new and exciting flavours in their culinary creations.

"Want to put the Westman Islands on the Culinary map"

8 Sep The Food Festival Matey starts today in the Westman Islands and ends next Saturday and there will be a big seafood feast in the islands. The Westman Islands already house some of the best restaurants in the country and more people are making a point of going there to have a culinary adventure in the great setting of the islands. The Westman Islands were nominated to the nordic Embla awards as The best culinary destination in Scandinavia.

When the President of Iceland, Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, weighs in on the chocolate covered liquorice drama, you know Icelanders are dead serious about their liquorice.

"Nothing Danish there, with all due respect"

7 Sep The President of Iceland, Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, has weighed in on the chocolate covered liquorice drama and tweets that chocolate covered liquorice is "as Icelandic as glaciers and elves, volcanoes and waterfalls. Nothing Danish there, with all due respect."

Don't mess with the liquorice love of Icelanders.

The chocolate covered liquorice war

6 Sep The statements of the danish liquorice producer Johan Bülow that he was the one who invented chocolate covered liquorice are "pure nonsense" according to the managing director of Sambó Kólus candy producers.

Gunnar Karl Gíslason recently opened the restaurant North in Akureyri.

North has been fully booked since it opened

4 Sep Recently the restaurant North opened in Akureyri, and it is the brainchild of Gunnar Karl Gíslason, masterchef and then some, but he is the man behind the Michelin restaurant Dill in Reykjavík. As it would be expected by Gunnar Karl and his team, North looks fabulous.

VERA is a newest foodhall on the scene

5 Aug Foodies in Iceland can celebrate now because there is a new option on the culinary scene. The Foodhall Vera opened last night at Gróska's Creative Community in Vatnsmýri. "We are super excited that our idea is coming to fruition," says Björn Bragi Arnarsson, one of the owners of VERA Foodhall.

Valeria is an Icelandic/Columbian enterprice and they started their operation last June. i

A boutique coffeehouse in Grundarfjörður with coffee from small Columbian farms

18 Jul The couple Jan Van Hass and Marta Magnúsdóttir opened the coffie roasting coffeehouse Valeria in Grundarfjörður last June and it has been going well. Van Hass is from Colubia and they import the coffeebeans directly from Columbia from small farms and roast the been in Grundarfjörður.

Vogue picks the top bars in Reykjavík

12 Jul Vogue Scandinavia published recently an interesting list over the bars/restaurants that are the most interesting and stylish for happy hour or a drink after work. Most of the places have been popular in Iceland for years.

To begin with people can buy wine and beer from domestic suppliers.

Heimkaup starts selling wine and beer with same day delivery

29 Jun Today is the first day you can buy wine and beer online and have it sent to you the same day. Heimkaup is the company starting this service and according to their press release the service is open seven days a week.

Mathöll Höfði is very popular because of the variety of food you can get there.

The first Poke restaurant in Iceland

31 May We welcome all new products and novelties in the food culture in Iceland, but now it is the first time you can get a pokebowl, and it is a hit!

New Icelandic porridge on the market

28 May The company Kaja Organic has started to sell the convenient and healthy breakfast of porridge in biodegradable containers. Karen Jónsdóttir is the woman behind Kaja Organic and she says that the company has been developing the new product for quite some time to ensure top quality.

Linda Ben’s Buddha Bowl is to die for

26 May Who doesn’t love simple, very tasty, quick to make food that is healthy to boot?” asks Linda Ben, a prominent food blogger in Iceland. Most people would agree with her and this recipe ticks all the boxes. "This lemony Buddha bowl with quinoa and vegetables is very simple to make, very tasty and healthy."