Kemuri — Restaurant in Reykjavik

I didn’t expect to eat pierogies in Iceland, but we needed a quick dinner close to our hotel and stopped by for takeout. Kemuri is recognized as having the best vegan food in Reykjavik per a small posting on their door, so even though we are not vegan nor vegetarian, we saw this as a promising sign. They also sell coffee and cakes here, which is an interesting combination.

They offered two classic pierogies, which are sold all the time, and three specials of the day. You can get them in an order of seven or 10, and either cooked the traditional way, or served in a soup. For the four of us, we got three orders of 10, so 30 pieces total. They came topped with caramelized onion, green onion and tossed in butter. The employee kindly asked us if we wanted regular butter, which we appreciated. Small scoops of diced carrot and sour cream came on the side along with pickles.

The BLACK LENTIL was my favorite. Along with the hearty lentils, I could taste the earthy mushrooms and it had a good spice blend. The CLASSIC contained cottage cheese, onion and potato. Although the filling was on the saltier side, I still enjoyed them. Finally, we also got the SMOKED TOFU, which I didn’t particularly love. It had onion and potato, but the smokiness was just a bit much for me, so that is all I really tasted. All the pierogies were generously filled and I liked the dough which had a great chew.

After a long travel day, I enjoyed these comforting dumplings which were both tasty...

This is the first review I ever wrote, because I couldn’t keep myself from not sharing how amazing this place is. There are a lot of restaurants with fried food, burgers everywhere, and people making the food just don’t care. Kemuri is something absolutely different - you can feel how much love and care is put into the food. It’s exactly something you crave on a cold rainy day. There is not a single thing I would change about this place or the food that is served.

I came there and the person working told me they got very big online order, so the waiting time would be around 40 minutes. I decided to wait, I craved their food every day ever since I’ve tried it for the first time few weeks ago. He finished making the order way faster than expected, made my food and I went home to eat. And again, the food was absolutely worth waiting. Pierogi were soft on the outside, but not overcooked. The filling was perfect, to the point I would wait for this food even longer.

I’m writing all of this while eating this delicious food and even now I can’t wait to go there...

So happy we were able to get an order of the Kemuri classic and sauerkraut dumplings to take away as we were literally leaving for the airport for our flight home to the US. On an earlier attempt, we didn't realize the closing time, and missed the opportunity. What a treat to look forward to and enjoy. Compliments to the chef for his warm welcome, the delicious dumplings, and his sincere love for his craft which cannot be denied by simply watching him in his preparation. Anyone visiting Reykjavik should make time to stop and enjoy Kemuri. Wish we could go back and enjoy the soups...