Eat scintillating seafood in Iceland

Offering shark meat and locally caught fish, Randulff’s Sea House has remained relatively unchanged since its 1890 construction on the Eskifjörður fjord’s shoreline. Diners can appreciate the decorative artefacts that linger from the late 19th and 20th century; a period considered the golden age of fishing for East Iceland. Built by the Norwegian Peter Randulff, the building was used for storing herring until stocks dried in the 1950s. The house remained out of use for 75 years until being partly purchased by the East Iceland Maritime Museum, who helped renovate it into the restaurant we see today.

Located on Skólavörðustígur – the rainbow street leading up to Hallgrímskirkja church – this delightful eatery promises signature Icelandic dishes, including plokkfiskur, fish stew and classic fish and chips. A colourful interior paired with a fresh menu and careful selection of local beers make this a sure dinner choice any time of the year, plus desserts like rhubarb cake only adds to the promise. The restaurant is named after a novel by the Icelandic Nobel laureate, Halldór Laxness.

If you could add one thing to Iceland’s picture-perfect nature, what would it be? Fast food, of course! Only the fresh taste of lobster could make a visit to Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon all the more worthwhile. Thankfully, Heimahumar Local Langoustine Truck has you covered with its range of crustacean-based cuisine. While looking out over this incredible, iceberg-filled glacier lake, hungry travellers can choose from such tasty options as lobster rolls or wraps, hot soups and toasted ‘lobster dogs’. If ever anyone needed one more reason to visit Iceland’s star attraction, this langoustine truck would be it.

Overlooking Höfn’s harbour, the tantalising Pakkhús Restaurant was originally built in 1932 as a warehouse but today is a quality eatery focussed on sourcing and utilising the very best ingredients from the Vatnajökull region. Höfn is particularly famed for its Icelandic lobster, caught routinely on the red ship, Sigurður Ólafsson SF44, often seen resting in the town’s idyllic harbour. This makes eating the restaurant’s seafood a particularly authentic experience, given one can see the entire process from the sea to the plate.

Unmissable thanks to its bright yellow paint, Naustið restaurant provides home-baked treats, meats from local farms and homegrown vegetables, culminating in homely and comforting food hard to get elsewhere in the Northeast. Naustið is particularly admired for its signature fish soup, and ‘mashed fish’, once considered a staple of poverty-stricken Icelanders, but now reborn as one of the country’s most nurturing dishes.