Food & Fun Reykjavik Festival – food festival with chefs from all over the world

Writer: Helena Bergström

Updated: August 2026 | Food & Fun in Reykjavík is an annual food festival where international guest chefs collaborate with some of the city’s restaurants and create special menus using Icelandic ingredients. We visited the festival during a press trip in 2019 and got to try several of the menus – a really fun experience for those who like food, new flavors and Reykjavík in winter. The festival is still organized and attracts chefs from different parts of the world every year.

That's why Food & Fun started

Food & Fun was first held in 2002. One of the ideas behind the festival was to attract more visitors to Reykjavík during a time of year that has traditionally been the low season for tourism. The concept was to combine Icelandic ingredients and restaurants with international guest chefs – and the festival has since become a recurring event in Reykjavík.

What is Food & Fun Reykjavik?

During Food & Fun, international guest chefs collaborate with restaurants in Reykjavík to create special festival menus that focus on Icelandic ingredients. The festival is spread across several restaurants in the city, allowing visitors to choose from a variety of cuisines, chefs and menus.

The concept still lives on. During Food & Fun 2026, a large number of restaurants in Reykjavík participated, including Fish Market, Geiri Smart, Sumac, Tides and Vox – several names that are recognizable from Reykjavík's restaurant scene.

Food and Fun Reykjavik 2019

During the 2019 festival, around 20 chefs from the USA, Canada, the UK, France, Spain and Finland participated. Almost as many restaurants were involved, and this year they also introduced the concept of ”Off menu”. This new concept meant that pubs and other simpler eateries also served dishes during the week in collaboration with the international chefs, without the guest having to order a whole menu.

Restaurant Geiri Smart - in co-operation with Sasu Laukkonen

We ate a whole menu in a restaurant Geiri Smartwhich was served in collaboration with Finnish chef Sasu Laukkonen. Sasu explained that he spent three weeks in Iceland for the event, scouting for ingredients and preparing the dishes.

What we really liked was the fact that he took advantage of all parts of the cod and included them in the meal. For example, we tasted fried cod tongue, which was served with the bread in a bread basket. The dessert was also really interesting, combined with a dark beer. Here is the menu:

• Icelandic tomato, strawberries and dulse (seaweed)
• Cod part 1, fillet, head and tongue
• Cod part 2, bone, cheek, skin and rum
• Icelandic lamb, potatoes, coffee and lamb's heart
• Omnom chocolate, herb ice cream and cola malt

Restaurant Vox - in collaboration with Ryan Rodgers

Restaurant Vox is at the Hilton Reykjavik Nordica hotel, where we also stayed. Here we tried a menu served in collaboration with Canadian chef Ryan Rodgers. An interesting and exciting menu with Icelandic ingredients such as sea bass, cod, lamb and blackcurrant. Here is the menu:

• Fried chicken, fermented plum and shiso (mint).
• Smoked sea bass, apple, celeriac and horseradish
• Cod confit, butternut squash and black garlic
• Grilled lamb, burnt cream and soba
• Blackcurrants, chocolate and wild pepper

Restaurant Meat - in collaboration with Hamilton Johnson

Restaurant Meat are also usually known for serving really good grilled meat, and were now visited by guest chef Hamilton Johnson. We didn't try the whole menu at Meat, but Peter got the chance to try some of the dishes (he slipped in with some contacts while I was hanging out at a bar with our Finnish friends). Peter tried the tuna and steak, and loved it! Here is the full menu:

• Spicy raw tuna, kohlrabi, radishes, rye bread and butter emulsion with foie gras
• Norway lobster, braised pork cheek, fennel marmalade and black truffle
• Tenderloin steak, caramelised white cabbage puree, small potatoes, preserved veal tongue and blueberries
• Coffee and "cigarettes", malt, chocolate, espresso ice cream, tobacco school, smoked hazelnut praline and chocolate coffee meringue.

Keeping the party going in Reykjavik

After dinner we continued into Reykjavík's nightlife. Much of the bar scene is in the city center, especially around Laugavegur and the surrounding streets, and the distances are short. This makes Reykjavík a very easy city for those who want to move from restaurant to bar – or do a whole bar crawl.

More to see and do in Reykjavik

If you are in Reykjavik, there is of course much more to see and experience, both in the central city and via various excursions. Here you will find tips and reports:

• Things to do in Reykjavik
• Fish Company Restaurant
• Blue Lagoon
• Gullfoss
• Geysir and Strokkur

We visited Food & Fun Reykjavík during a press trip in 2019, arranged by the festival and Icelandair. The article was updated in August 2026. All opinions and experiences are our own.