Fridheimar

Fridheimar is one of those places that sounds too quirky to be good. A tomato greenhouse on the Golden Circle where you eat soup surrounded by growing plants? It could easily be a tourist trap. Instead, it is one of the most memorable meals you will have in Iceland -- not because the food is revolutionary, but because the setting is utterly unlike anything else.

The Experience

You walk into a working greenhouse. Tomato vines climb to the ceiling on both sides of you, heavy with fruit, warmed by geothermal energy that pipes hot water from deep underground. In the middle of all this horticultural abundance, tables are set for lunch. The air smells of growing things -- warm, green, and slightly sweet. After days of driving through Iceland's lunar landscapes of lava and ice, the sudden immersion in living green is almost overwhelming.

Horses from the farm sometimes wander past the glass walls. Bees pollinate the tomato flowers above your head. It is a genuinely surreal juxtaposition: volcanic Iceland outside, a Mediterranean kitchen garden inside.

The Food

The menu is single-minded: tomatoes. The signature tomato soup is thick, rich, and served with freshly baked bread and a green tomato salsa. It is simple food done exceptionally well. The tomatoes taste like actual tomatoes -- sweet, acidic, and full of flavour -- because they were picked this morning from the vines surrounding your table.

Beyond the soup, there is pasta in tomato sauce, a tomato cheesecake that is surprisingly good, and various tomato-based drinks including a Bloody Mary made with tomatoes grown within arm's reach. The commitment to the theme is total.

Practical Tips

Booking is essential. Fridheimar is a fixture on Golden Circle itineraries, and every tour bus between Geysir and Thingvellir seems to stop here. In summer, tables sell out days or weeks in advance. Book through the website.

The restaurant is only open for lunch, from noon to four. Plan your Golden Circle route accordingly -- many visitors slot Fridheimar in between Geysir and Thingvellir, which works perfectly.

Do not skip this. Even if you are sceptical about eating in a greenhouse, the combination of setting, simplicity, and genuinely good produce makes Fridheimar something special. It is, in its own quiet way, one of the most Icelandic dining experiences there is -- using the earth's own heat to grow food in a place where nothing should grow at all.