Svarta Kaffið — Restaurant in Reykjavik

I got here about 40 minutes prior to closing so I didn't mark down for certain things

Warning, you must climb a flight of narrow stairs to get to this.

When I arrived the host came over and looked irritated that I was there (even though there were several tables filled with people). She did not say hello, she greeted me by saying "We're out of the meat soup, there's only vegetarian" I said that would be fine. "It's curried ginger vegetable". She seemed like she was trying to get me to say no.

Anyway I sat and was given a cute little table with a street view which was nice. The soup came out quickly (it's premade, they just ladle into a bread bowl).

The soup was hot and it was delicious. I was thinking it would be a chunky soup but it was like a puree. The bread bowl was very tasty and didn't seem stale the way it can be at places. They also give you the bread portion they cut out of the middle with a side of butter, so that was a nice touch. I did think the price was a little high (even by Icelandic standards), but it was ok, the food was good.

I had water with my dinner and I ended up having to take my glass up to the counter to have it refilled, again the lady seemed irritated that I asked for a refill and sighed at me. She literally just had to turn and fill the glass from the tap behind her. Most places I've been had bottles of water...

The service is very quickly and they know their things. But it is not that hard as there are 2 soup. Meat or vegeterian. The interior is a very dated coffee cafe enviroment vibe with a bit of old bar style where they take and grab everything to decorate. The foreign currency, that was like way back in time. Combined with african masks? Not sure the relation to. There is only one bathroom. Lovely there is an outdoor area.

The meat soup Limited of meat and they are minced and made in small pieces. There is limit of soup but more in ingredients but still does not give the soup whole lot of flavors what is strange. Love the bread they did a good job nice fresh and good structure for both holding the soup and to eat it. Pitty the soup is so little. A lunch size will be eniugh especially if you eat the bread but it is too solo. They give you piece of butter but i used for the lid part.

Do not know how they can keep it standing in the enviroment maybe icelandic people does not like new innovative things. But this restaurant is hoping for mass instead of spending amount. What is pitty they know how to make the soup only to diverse to improve is still long way to go.

Also the soup is ready and when ordered it will be...

I have mad respect for how this restaurant has its business model down to a science. Each day, there are exactly two things on the menu: a vegetarian soup served in a bread bowl, and a non-vegetarian soup served in a bread bowl. They are both the same price. When you come into the restaurant, the host doesn't waste your time with small talk, he just immediately asks which soup you want. Because there are only two things on the menu, the food comes literal seconds after you order it.

The soup was good and the bread bowl was solid and did not leak. However, the bread bowl was a disappointment in terms of taste: it was made of very bland brown bread with no particular flavor or depth. I ate about half of the bread bowl out of a sense of obligation before deciding it was not worth the calories and giving up. I have had more delicious bread bowls in San Francisco in America, where seafood soups served in sourdough bread is popular.

For these reasons, I'm torn between 3 stars and 4 stars, but am going to go with the higher number out of sheer admiration of this restaurant's...