Food Prices in Reykjavik

Last night, we had dinner at Vegamot, a bistro/bar in the city center. The decor is stylish, nordic modernist; the music was good and just loud enough that you could still talk but actively listen to the music as well. It was a combo of chill-house and downtempo, right up my alley... and the food looked good so we sat down.

I was surprised when I saw how relatively affordable it was. Merin had the curry satay salad and I had the chicken enchiladas. US$42.35. Food was good, although the Enchiladas were a creative yet non-standard configuration (i.e. not rolled). A glass of wine each would have added another $20 to that, but we just had water. Ok, I know, that sounds insane by US standards (or European standards!) but food is really expensive in Iceland; generally 50%-100% more than food in the US or EU.

The day before we shared a large pizza at Eldsmiðjunnar, supposedly one of the best pizza places in town. (They were playing some hipster indie rock, one song was an indy/emo cover of Michael Jackson's "Billy Jean" that was really well done.) With a local beer each, it cost US$54.32.

It was a real pizza, not as good as the best I've had in Italy, or not as good as Pizzeria Delfina in San Francisco, but definitely a good pie. Still, that gives you a price check. Comporable Pizza in San Francisco would have been $30 with two beers.

I won't even go into the cocktail prices here... in the land of the $10 beer, the $13 baby shot, and the $16-20 cocktail you realize that people do a lot of drinking at home before they go out... luckily there is lots of housing close to the city center so you can live near the action and not have to drive.

This also has the side-effect of people in music venues coming more for the music and less for the drinking. When a band is playing, people are watching and listening... not ignoring them like often happens in US clubs.