Travel Bites: Vegan Eats at Kaffi Vinyl – Reykjavik

Like most Nordic countries, Iceland isn’t a place that you immediately associate with vegetarian food. In a country known for dishing up lamb hot dogs, boiled sheep’s heads, smoked puffin, fermented shark and a lot of seafood, my vego friend and I wondered if we would struggle to find veggie-friendly options.

However, Reykjavik is a pretty modern city where not only do most restaurants have something on offer for meat-avoiders but there are even a few solely vegetarian or vegan eateries around!

In fact, the main issue we found was not finding food we could eat but getting to the restaurants in time to be served… With almost 24 hours of daylight, the evening tends to sneak up on you faster than expected so it’s easy to miss the 9pm cut-off of most eateries.

Thank goodness for Kaffi Vinyl, a vegan establishment serving food until “late”!

Kaffi Vinyl

Located not far from Reykjavik’s main high street, Kaffi Vinyl is a cafe/bar that doubles as a record store. With rustic floors, recycled furniture and an exclusively vegan menu, the cafe rocks a slightly hippy vibe and attracts laid back locals and the student crowd.

We arrived quite late when the DJ was just finishing up and the only food option left was the veggie lasagna. Served with bechamel red pesto, fresh bread and salad, that was fine by us! The lasagna was honestly one of the best I’ve had with creamy, cheesy layers and the fresh pesto was super-tasty.

The service was fast and friendly and at 2100 Icelandic Króna (around £11-12 when we were there pre-Brexit) for the main, prices were really decent. Washed down with a cider, we were pretty darn pleased with our late night vegan eats.

This may have been the only exclusively vegan place we tried but I highly recommend a visit if you’re in town because it must be hard to beat!

Kaffi Vinyl
Hverfisgata 76
Reykjavík
Iceland

Check out the stunning scenery of The Land of Ice and Fire in my post about Reykjavik & Beyond!