Reykjavík, Iceland 2024: My Gluten Free Travel Guide
- Beth Seaman
- Jan 6, 2024
- 4 min read
Are you visiting Reykjavík, and looking for gluten free options? Look no further. You've come to the right place.
Iceland is a breathtakingly gorgeous country. Imagine stunning views like these snowy mountains with the Northern Lights (yes I took this picture, it doesn't look real does it!), glaciers, and waterfalls. If you haven't been, I strongly advise you to do so! It was unquestionably a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Some must-do activities in Iceland that we did, include:
Northern Lights tour
The Golden Circle Tour
Perlan Museum
Hop-On-Hop Off Bus tour
Walking around and exploring Reykjavík
If you have coeliac disease or are gluten intolerant, there are many suitable restaurants in Reykjavík. In this blog post, I've listed all of the gluten free places that I had the pleasure of visiting and found to be completely safe for coeliacs.
Here is my gluten free Reykjavík guide...
We were exploring Iceland on our first evening and came across this Italian restaurant, where I was surprised to learn that they had gluten-free pizza and pasta suitable for coeliacs. Our waiter was exceptionally knowledgeable and informed me on how they cooked the pizza, which was particularly important due to cross contamination, and it was fantastic knowing it was safe for me to eat. For my starter, I chose the gluten free wood-oven baked garlic bread with mozzarella, followed by the gluten free Penne pasta with roasted chicken and bacon in a rosemary tomato sauce for my main meal. Both dishes were delicious, and I highly recommend this restaurant to everyone, gluten-free or not!
Icelandic Street Food is Iceland's first fast food concept incorporating traditional Icelandic food. The idea was to provide all visitors to the country with the complete experience of home-made Icelandic traditional food without going out and spending a fortune on fine dining. The servers advised me that the Icelandic lamb soup (without the bread) was gluten free, so I ordered a bowl of it for my lunch! The Lamb soup included Icelandic lamb, potatoes, carrots & root vegetables.
When on holiday and if you're gluten free, you must always find a bakery! I looked up online 'gluten free bakeries near me' and Sweet Aurora came up, so I went there. I chose the 'Snowflake,' which consisted of coconut mousse, passionfruit chocolate ganache, mango exotic compote, and lemon biscuit. This bakery had a lot of gluten free options, so I certainly recommend stopping by if you're looking for a gluten free treat!
The Icelandic food is the main attraction of Brass Kitchen & Bar. This restaurant is known for serving perfectly cooked fish and chips, and their lamb. When visiting this restaurant, the cocktails are a must. We ordered the Pink Tom Collins cocktails, which were delicious. I then ordered the gluten free fish and chips for my main course, which were fried in a dedicated fryer which was great. As soon as they arrived, I noticed they looked nothing like the 'regular' fish and chips, which was reassuring that they were definitely gluten free, and they tasted delicious!
The Old Iceland restaurant first opened its doors in 2014. The emphasis has always been on showcasing Icelandic food and incorporating herbs and spices from Iceland’s mountains into their dishes. I had the fillet of cod - herb and garlic mashed potatoes, carrots, parsnips and cod head sauce with champagne. This dish was delicious; I could truly taste all of the wonderful flavours. I definitely recommend visiting this restaurant for the Icelandic food.
Caruso, an Italian restaurant in the capital that has been run by the same family for 15 years, and is a popular and reputable restaurant. On New Year's Eve, we dined at Caruso and I ordered the three-course holiday menu. Salad Caprese for starters, Roasted Rack of Lamb for main course, and Panna Cotta with Fruits and Strawberry Sauce for dessert. The food here was delicious.
We went to Perlan, which is made up of a massive glass dome that sits on top of six district heating tanks, each of which can hold approximately 4 million litres of geothermal water. Perlan (en. The Pearl) is a one-of-a-kind glass dome structure with a steel frame that serves as the furnace system for Perlan. During our visit here, we stopped at Perlan's Café, which served a classic selection of hot and cold drinks, as well as various foods such as cakes, sandwiches, and croissants, as well as gluten-free and vegan options. These were gluten free goodies pictured below, not sure what they were... but they were tasty! P.s. the views were amazing, see below!
We just happened to find Monkeys by coincidence while wandering around town browsing at restaurant menus. Monkey's is a small course restaurant with a great selection of exotic Peruvian and Japanese dishes, as well as a stunning bar (including a champagne train!). I ordered the three-course menu, which featured Fried Crispy Plantains, Monkeys Shellfish Soup and Grilled Salmon, as well as the Chocolate and Salted Caramel Brownie, which was delicious. Everything on the menu was clearly labelled gluten free.
I genuinely hope you enjoyed my Reykjavík, Iceland 2024: My Gluten Free Travel Guide. Please let me know if you come across any other restaurants that you think people should try. Who knows where my next adventure will take me...
Thanks so much for reading!
Beth xxx
For more gluten free restaurant recommendations, follow me on Instagram at @glutenfreebetthh_
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