Public house is a recently opened gastropub/restaurant in downtown Reykjavik. On Laugavegur 24 to be exact.
The menu is very eclectic and you can be totally mixed up in there too. In fact, it’s all about the mix. Even the waiters wear mixed up T-shirts where you can see a picture of our beloved Icelandic freedom-fighter, first president Jón Sigurdsson and the ever so mixed up mr. David Bowie.
My friend and I went for brunch. For starters I had a lovely salad with smoked duck and goats cheese. It was divine. My friend had a slow cooked LAMB SHANK wrapped up in a doughnut. A doughnut that we icelanders actually call ástarpungur or loveballs... yes, loveballs. Mmmm… loooveballs. Finally we ordered some scallop served in the shell. Lovely!
My friend also asked for the coconut, because she’s nuts and in love with the coco… This is the first time either of us eat a fresh coconut in an Icelandic restaurant. We loved looking at it. Coconuts just look so exotic!
Public house has a special Bollinger champagne offer for lunch/brunch during weekends. You get 50% off both champagne and mimosas to recover from the night before. The also have a great 80’s rock playlist that surely helps everyone to forget about those scattered I wish I never said that, did that, ate that, where is my wedding ring confusion that many experience during Saturday and Sunday mornings in Reykjavik.
The guests just sit there super relaxed, sip mimosas and champagne while humming along various ballads by Queen, Guns’n Roses, Black Sabbath, Scorpio etc. At one point, all of the guests almost broke into this marvelous hung-over choir to Bohemian Rhapsody. Beautiful bonding.
Public House is a small restaurant. They have about 55 seats and lots of atmo.
It’s a great place for a group of friends to gather before going out, for just a drink, for lunch or brunch, a drink and/or a snack and it’s a great place for a dinner made up of lot’s of small exotic and exciting dishes.
The interiors at Public House are designed by Leifur Welding, – the most popular restaurant designer in Reykjavík today. It’s themed with surrealistic manimals, such as an angry fox pointing a rifle at the window and this huge cigar smoking pig that reminds us of the great and wonderful Winston Churchill. It’s a good, surreal vibe.
Public house is open until from 11:30 – 01.00 am. If you want to truly and totally enjoy an evening there you should show up early. Even during the happy hour from 16:00-19:00. You could buy a bottle of wine for a decent half price and chill until the fun starts boiling in the nearby clubs.
In a nutshell: Public House is a small, hip place in the heart of downtown Reykjavik. The food is good, the service is decent, the music is good and the design is smart. Here is the menu.
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Ég er af X-kynslóð, elska 70’s tónlist, finnst gott að fara í sund á kvöldin og á erfitt með arfa i görðum. Kýs fjölbreyti í lífið. Kann eina Eminem plötu utanað. Hef thing fyrir Marilyn Monroe, áhuga á feminisma og svona sitthvað fleira.
