Grandi Mathöll – Reykjavik, Iceland

Another day and another Reykjavik food market post – who knew this city had so many? We started our trip at Hlemmur Mathöll and finished it with dinner on our last night at Grandi Mathöll. After a week of sometimes average yet expensive meals across Iceland, we wanted to celebrate our last night with good food at a good price. Food markets are a great way to eat out on a budget!

Grandi Mathöll didn’t disappoint. It is hidden a short walk away from the city centre in the dockyard area. The street it is on is dark and rather quiet, but it is home to designers workshops and startups offices. It feels a bit like east London, slightly rough on the outside but worth exploring on the inside.

Again it was freezing that night so we were very happy to see that Grandi Mathöll is set up in a fully covered warehouse. It is a bit bigger than Hlemmur Mathöll and there were definitely a lot less tourists there. Being a bit more difficult to find helps, and you will spend most of the evening surrounded by trendy locals.

For dinner, I had the ‘crazy’ shrimps which were gigantic! They wrapped them in filo-like pastry and dressed them with various sauces. They were served on a bed of seaweed salad which was really good. The prawns were deliciously juicy and I was happy!

Andrew went for a fried chicken burger which he thought was good, but being spoiled when it comes to fried chicken at one of our locals back home he didn’t think it was ‘Dirty South‘ good.

We also shared a last lobster bisque, being one of the most popular Icelandic dishes we had to have it one last time before heading back to Europe. The one served in Grandi Mathöll is extremely generous with langoustine pieces so I recommend it!