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Restaurants in Iceland are small and diverse. You can expect superb seafood and lamb. The fresh fish is not to be missed—likely some of the best you'll ever have. Besides native cuisine, eateries offer everything from Asian to French to Italian. Pizzas, hamburgers, ice cream, and a tasty local version of the hot dog, with fried and raw onions, are widely available. Most restaurants accept major credit cards.
Perhaps the best way to save substantially on meal costs (besides choosing from the specials of the day) is to forgo alcohol, the price of which essentially doubles from liquor store (where it isn't cheap to begin with) to restaurant table.
Akureyri’s most famous ice cream parlour has been dishing up everyone’s favorite scoop since 1939. Legend has it they use a special secret ingredient, and people have traveled from as far away as China to get a taste. The shop also sells candy and it's s a popular family destination on Saturday (“Candy Day” in Iceland) when sweets are half price.
"Fire and Ice" does two things really well: ice cream and crepes. You can choose from the menu they've put together, or you can make up your own crepe creation.
Just a 20-minute drive south of Akureyri lies this idyllic dairy farm. While you can get some local meat and other wares here, the real draw is their homemade ice cream, which will have you swearing off the grocery store stuff. They, of course, have the basic flavors, but make sure to try their wackier ones—they're a true standout. Grab a scoop and meander around to say hi to the animals. Make sure to stop by their farm store as well.
If there are two things Icelanders love, it's swimming pools and ice cream. This charming ice-cream parlor offers delicious flavors, including Icelandic favorites like Bragarefur as well as the Icelandic version of gelato.
You'll find a line full of locals winding out the door of this ice-cream shop during the summertime. They offer two kinds of ice cream: "old" and "new," both of which describe the recipes used to make the soft serve (the older recipe is creamier). Choosing which toppings to get will be your hardest decision of the day.
In any weather—even the most brutal snowstorm—Icelanders will meet their friends for an ice cream. Ísbúð Vesturbæjar is a famous family-owned ice-cream parlor with one of the best Bragðarefur (blended mix of crushed-up candy and vanilla soft-serve) in all of Iceland.
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