In this month’s edition of First Friday Feast, we loaded up on some meat at The Steakhouse when we visited Reykjavik, Iceland.

First Friday Feast is a monthly series debuting on the first Friday of each month and elaborates on a recent dining experience. For avoidance of doubt, this post was in no way sponsored by the restaurant.

View other posts in this series:

• Trip Introduction: Springtime in the Land of Fire and Ice
• A Nice Time at the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse LAX
• Simple But Effective: Virgin Atlantic 787-9 Upper Class LAX-LHR
• Sofitel London Heathrow: Great for LHR Terminal 5
• Now With a Nice Kids Area: British Airways Galleries South
• The Reykjavik EDITION: Simple Luxury But Not Perfect
• The Steakhouse (Steikhúsið): A Great Spot in Reykjavik (this post)
• Forréttabarinn Reykjavik: Excellent Small Dishes, Good for the Family
• Northern Lights in Iceland: What to Know and How to Find
• Blue Lagoon Iceland: What You Need to Know Before You Visit
• Driving in Iceland: About As Simple As In The United States
• Vik, Iceland: An Excellent Day Trip From Reykjavik
• The Amazing Golden Circle in Iceland: Path and Activities
• Best Things to do in Reykjavik with Kids
• Where to eat in Reykjavik with Kids
• Icelandair Saga Lounge KEF: Simple But Calming
• Affordable Comfort: SAS Intra-Europe Business Class
• SAS Business Lounge CPH: A Great Place for a Layover
• Hilton Frankfurt Airport: Pretty Good with Kids and Families
• Lufthansa Senator Lounge FRA (Z Gates): Good for a Quick Bite
• Lufthansa 747-8 Business Class FRA-LAX: Good for Couples

We’ve been trying to have a date night each month this year (and post about it on the first Friday of every month). Sometimes we bring the kids along for date night and sometimes they stay at home. But that’s fine by us–the kids are more than welcome to tag along if they want. With us in Iceland, it only seemed natural to check out a steakhouse we’ve heard nice things about. To keep things easier on us, we’re going to call Steikhúsið by its English name (The Steakhouse).

Arrival to The Steakhouse (Reykjavik, Iceland)

Official link to Steikhúsið: https://steik.is/

We stayed at The Reykjavik EDITION, located right by the water, and it’s a pretty simple 5-10 minute walk over to The Steakhouse. Of course, the kids loved playing with the snow along the way, stopping to pick up large snowballs they find. It’s obvious we live in a warmer climate.

Once we arrived, we stepped inside and checked in with the host. I made dinner reservations for 5PM, which is also when the restaurant opened. We were the first ones inside, and while reservations weren’t required at that time, it did get busier as the night went on.

Right after checking in with the host, we saw all the meat curing behind a glass display.

Just look at all that meat! I could tell our son Alex was drooling before we made it to our table.

Sure enough, we made our way over to our table for the evening. I liked how much natural lighting there was in the dining room.

The kids were a little tired at this point but hungry and looked forward to a feast.

The menu

We received a few different menus when we first sat down. These outlined the food and drinks in more detail. Big surprise that the emphasis here is on steaks, but they have other traditional Icelandic dishes too (arctic char, cod, and other seafood).

And then came the drink menus. The thing you should know about Iceland is that alcohol is pretty expensive. It shouldn’t be a surprise since you’re on an island and the weather conditions means they need to import quite a bit. (1,000 kr. = $8 US at the time of writing)

If you’re thinking of bringing the kids, they do have a menu for little ones. It’s really your choice of beef, chicken, lamb, or fish and they all come with fries.

Drinks

Even with drink prices a little high, we still enjoyed a drink with our meal. Jenn chose the cider (Kopparberg Naked Apple) and found it delicious. In the US, you might think of ciders as a girly drink, but European ciders actually have some depth to them and are pretty refreshing. I stuck to the Steakhouse Classic beer, which went down easy.

The food at The Steakhouse Reykjavik

Bread

Shortly after ordering, our server brought over some bread. It came with some whipped butter, which made this a nice light and airy appetizer. We sometimes get in trouble overeating by indulging a bit too much on the bread, but no problems tonight! That’s partly because we had a rather light lunch.

Whale tataki

Full disclosure: we never ate whale before this evening. We were initially thinking that whale would have a look and consistency closer to that of very fatty tuna. That’s actually incorrect–we would more describe whale as more like beef. (And look at that, it kind of makes sense to have it at a steakhouse, huh?)

The whale came with some fried nori on top. Jenn and I enjoyed it, but couldn’t get the kids to try. They of course were just too wrapped up in it being whale. Kids…

Porterhouse with broccolini and baby potatoes

Jenn and I wanted to share a steak to help ensure we don’t overeat. We chose the porterhouse (800g) to split between us. And before I talk about this steak, I am instantly reminded of the time when I felt almost forced to eat 1,200g of steak on my own at Saint James in Bora Bora. Alex loves talking about that all the time.

Anyways, this steak is perfect. It has a great sear on the outside, medium rare on the inside, and plenty of flavor. I couldn’t finish this on my own, but for Jenn and I to share it, it’s almost an ideal size. We did sneak a few pieces over to Alex too as is customary.

For the sides, the broccolini is actually fried and thus very crisp and a great way to balance out the meal a bit. The potatoes are a little bit of an impulse buy after our server commented on how good they are. He’s right–they are almost like mashed potatoes but solid. They’re very tender and rich in flavor but with some nice firmness on the outside.

BBQ chicken (kids meal)

Our daughter Char loves chicken, so she went with the BBQ chicken option. The sauce automatically comes on the side and to be honest it wasn’t needed. The piece of chicken is on the smaller side, but given she’s still a smaller girl, it works for her. It comes with some triple dipped fries, which were very crispy on the outside and warm and soft inside.

Beef (kids meal)

Alex ordered the beef tenderloin (100g), which again is on the smaller side. But it kind of worked out since we could just supplement his meal with some of our porterhouse. Between this steak and the one the adults ordered, the porterhouse has better flavor, but this is still delicious on its own too.

Vanilla ice cream (from kids meal)

To finish the evening, we ordered one vanilla ice cream from the kids menu. Since it comes with three scoops of ice cream, it’s a lot for a single child to have on their own. Thus, it was a good idea for us to ask first and then have them share it. Rather than just coming with the ice cream on its own, it also has some fresh berries and chocolate balls on top. You can also add as much or as little toffee sauce as you want if you’re into sundaes.

This was a very nice way to end the evening.

Recommendation: Yes

Here is my initial warning: dining anywhere in Iceland is expensive. That’s true whether you go to a nice restaurant or just buy groceries in Bónus. Even as someone used to prices in Los Angeles, it skews higher here because almost everything is imported. This dinner cost us 30,970 kr (roughly $250 US).

With that out of the way, we loved the flavors here at The Steakhouse in Reykjavik. This was our first dinner in Iceland and it signaled a great trip was ahead of us. If you have to spend money anyways regardless of what you eat, isn’t it better to spend it on something excellent? We’d recommend this restaurant to any steak lovers out there coming to Reykjavik.

What do you like to eat in Iceland?