Restaurant in Reykjavík, Iceland
Michelin Plate Lebanese on Laugavegur. Book it.
Sümac brings Lebanese-inspired Middle Eastern cooking to Laugavegur and earns a Michelin Plate for it — making it the most compelling alternative to Reykjavík's New Nordic circuit. A 4.6 Google rating across 521 reviews backs up its reputation. Book it for shared-plate dining in a relaxed room that delivers quality well above what the casual setting suggests.
Picture Laugavegur on a winter evening: the main street is cold, dark, and full of tourists hunting for skyr and lamb. Then you walk into Sümac at number 28 and the room pivots east — towards the Lebanese kitchen and the broader Middle Eastern table. The verdict: book it. Sümac is the most compelling argument in Reykjavík for stepping away from the New Nordic format, and its Michelin Plate recognition in 2025 confirms it is operating well above the level its relaxed setting might lead you to expect.
The editorial angle here is casual excellence: a room and a price point that feel accessible, delivering food quality that punches well above the register. Reykjavík's €€€€ restaurants tend to signal austere Nordic seriousness, white tablecloths, and long tasting menus. Sümac does something different. It brings the warmth and generosity of the Lebanese table — mezze, spice, shared plates , to a city where that style of eating is genuinely rare. That contrast is not a gimmick. It is the reason the venue has accumulated a Google rating of 4.6 across 521 reviews and earned a Michelin Plate, the Guide's recognition that a kitchen is producing food of notable quality.
Middle Eastern cuisine in this format rewards groups who want to eat across the table rather than down a tasting menu. If you are travelling as a pair or a small group and you want a dinner that feels convivial rather than ceremonial, Sümac's structure suits that mode better than most of its Laugavegur neighbours. For solo diners or duos who want the full Nordic tasting menu ritual, DILL or ÓX are the right calls. But for anyone who finds the New Nordic format occasionally airless, Sümac is the correction.
The Lebanese kitchen that inspires Sümac is one of the great sharing traditions in global dining , built around cold and hot mezze, grilled proteins, flatbreads, and the kind of sauces and condiments (tahini, labneh, sumac itself) that make the table feel abundant before the mains arrive. Reykjavík has very few venues executing this tradition at a serious level, which makes Sümac's position on the main drag of downtown both convenient and genuinely useful to the food-focused traveller.
Laugavegur 28 sits in the heart of Reykjavík's walkable centre, which means you are within easy reach of the city's bar and hotel clusters , useful context if you are planning an evening that moves. Iceland's tourism has grown consistently over the past decade, and Reykjavík's better restaurants now fill up in a way they did not five years ago. A Michelin Plate listing accelerates that pressure. Sümac's booking difficulty is rated easy relative to peers like ÓX, but easy in this context means you should still plan ahead rather than assume a walk-in will land. For travel during peak summer or the northern lights season in winter, a reservation made several days out is the safer approach. Check our full Reykjavík restaurants guide for seasonal context across the city.
Reservations: Rated easy to book relative to Reykjavík's tighter Michelin-recognised venues , reserve a few days ahead during busy travel periods rather than relying on walk-in availability. Address: Laugavegur 28, 101 Reykjavík. Price range: €€€€ , comparable to DILL, ÓX, and Brút in the same tier, though the sharing-plate format at Sümac can make it feel more flexible than a fixed tasting menu at the same spend. Dress: No dress code data available, but the casual positioning of the venue suggests smart-casual is appropriate. Group size: The shared-plate format of Middle Eastern cuisine makes Sümac well-suited to groups of three or more who want to eat broadly across the menu. Pairs work well too. Large solo-counter dining in the Nordic format is better served at ÓX. Dietary needs: Middle Eastern cooking has strong traditions of vegetable-forward, legume-based, and dairy-free dishes, which may suit certain dietary requirements , confirm specifics with the restaurant directly before your visit.
See the full comparison section below for how Sümac sits against Reykjavík's other €€€€ restaurants.
If Middle Eastern cuisine is your focus and you are building a broader travel itinerary, the category has strong reference points globally. Kismet in Los Angeles operates in a comparable casual-excellence mode with California-inflected Middle Eastern cooking. Bait Maryam in Dubai and Baron in Doha are useful reference points for what the region's own dining scene is producing. Sümac earns its place in that conversation precisely because it is not trying to replicate a tourist-facing version of the cuisine , the Michelin Plate is the clearest external signal that the kitchen is working at a serious level.
If your trip extends beyond Reykjavík, the country has a handful of dining destinations worth building into the itinerary. Moss in Grindavík is the obvious destination restaurant outside the capital. Friðheimar in Reykholt is a useful stop on the Golden Circle. Strikið in Akureyri covers the north. For Reykjavík planning beyond restaurants, see our hotels guide, our bars guide, and our experiences guide.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sümac | Middle Eastern | €€€€ | A hot spot and staple in the Reykjavík food and wine scene, Sumac offers a satisfying spectrum of flavour when it comes to dining downtown. Inspired by the Lebanese kitchen and Middle Eastern cuisine...; Michelin Plate (2025) | Easy | — |
| DILL | New Nordic, Creative | €€€€ | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| Matur og Drykkur | Icelandic, Traditional Cuisine | €€€€ | Unknown | — | |
| ÓX | Nordic , Modern Cuisine | €€€€ | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| 3 Frakkar | Seafood | Unknown | — | ||
| Brút | Modern Cuisine | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
Key differences to consider before you reserve.
Bar seating availability is not confirmed in current venue data for Sümac. Given its address on busy Laugavegur 28 and its profile as a staple of the downtown Reykjavík food scene, check the venue's official channels to ask about walk-in or bar options before assuming availability.
Yes, for what Reykjavík charges at the €€€€ tier, Sümac delivers meaningfully: a 2025 Michelin Plate and a reputation as a downtown staple put it among the more credentialled options at this price point. If you want Icelandic-focused cooking at similar spend, Matur og Drykkur is the stronger alternative. Sümac earns its price specifically for Lebanese and Middle Eastern cuisine executed to a recognised standard.
Specific dietary accommodation policies are not documented in the venue record. Middle Eastern menus structurally tend to include strong vegetable-forward and plant-based options, but confirm directly with Sümac before booking if dietary needs are a deciding factor.
A few days ahead is generally sufficient outside peak travel periods, which puts Sümac in a more accessible booking tier than tighter Reykjavík venues like ÓX. During summer high season or holiday weekends, book a week or more out to avoid losing your preferred time.
Yes, with caveats. The €€€€ price range and Michelin Plate recognition give it the right credentials for a milestone dinner, and Laugavegur 28 is central enough to anchor an evening in Reykjavík. If the occasion calls for a more theatrical or Iceland-specific narrative, Dill or ÓX will feel more occasion-built. Sümac is the better call when the guest of honour specifically wants Middle Eastern food at a high standard.
Tasting menu format and pricing are not confirmed in the venue database, so a direct comparison against other Reykjavík tasting menus cannot be made responsibly here. What is confirmed: Sümac holds a 2025 Michelin Plate at the €€€€ price tier, which signals kitchen consistency. Check with the restaurant for current menu formats before deciding between tasting and à la carte.
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