Austur - Indiafjelagid

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

Thirty Years Behind a Remarkable Door

You notice the entrance before anything else. An intricately carved antique timber door from South India, propped on small stone pillar stubs and burnished by time, stands in quiet contrast to its contemporary neighbours on Hverfisgata. Step through and a dark vestibule gives way to the warm glow of the dining room — a subtle, deliberate nod to the vernaculars of Indian architecture. This is Austur-Indíafjelagið, and it has been here, at number 56, since 1994.

The mission set at the beginning has never wavered: marry the fresh and exotic spices of India with first-rate Icelandic ingredients, and deliver it all with professional service in a comfortable setting. Three decades on, critics have taken notice. The White Guide rates the restaurant at a very fine level, Lonely Planet calls the atmosphere "relaxed and the service warm," and the Louis Vuitton City Guide remarked that the Indian food here "would make more than one starred European chef grow green with envy." Reykjavík Grapevine readers have voted it Best Restaurant in Reykjavík multiple times — and Best Indian Restaurant every single year from 2021 through 2026.

A Kitchen Built from Across the Subcontinent

The team behind the food is drawn from different regions of India, and that geography shows on the plate. Mahipal Singh, a tandoori specialist from Uttarakhand, has mastered the age-old grilling traditions passed down through generations. Sheikh Jalauddin brings deep knowledge of northern Indian cuisine accumulated from kitchens spanning New Delhi to Kerala. Johnson George, raised near spice plantations along the Malabar coast, specialises in South Indian and coastal cooking — marrying fiery and delicate spices with the fresh seafood he has known all his life. Restaurant manager Manoj Kumar has been with the team since 2002, ensuring every guest receives a considered experience. At the bar, Jordy Mandolil Thampi builds creative cocktails designed to open the palate before the meal begins.

What's on the Table

The menu moves across the subcontinent. From the tandoor come dishes like the Hariyali Salmon — marinated in ginger, garlic, mint and coriander — and the Lasooni Lobster, Icelandic langoustines grilled with ginger, garlic, garam masala and green chilli. The Kodava Pepper Lamb, spiced with black pepper and curry leaves from the hills of Coorg, sits alongside a Pollichathu Cod wrapped and cooked in banana leaf. For those wanting to cover the full range, an eight-course tasting menu samples dishes from every corner of India, designed for sharing across the whole table.

Slow-cooked mains include the Raan Manjarabad — a Mughal lamb shank roasted in cumin, cloves and garam masala — and Kaja Gosht Masala, the kitchen's own take on a traditional Icelandic meat-in-curry dish, finished with cashews, ginger and green chilli. Desserts close things out with kulfi, a ginger and coconut crème brûlée, or stewed apricots infused with cardamom and almonds.

For a restaurant that has quietly led Reykjavík's Indian food scene for thirty years, the lack of pretension remains one of its finest qualities.