Restaurant in Tórshavn, Faroe Islands
Fermentation-led set menu, book Thursday–Saturday only.
Ræst is Tórshavn's most decorated restaurant — Michelin Plate, La Liste 75pts, Star Wine List #1 — and it delivers serious fermentation-driven cooking in a relaxed turf-roofed room on the old town's main street. At €€€, it offers more technical ambition than its casual atmosphere suggests. Open Thursday to Saturday only; book two to three weeks ahead in summer.
Forget the assumption that a Michelin Plate and a La Liste ranking (75 points, 2026) mean a stiff, formal room. Ræst is a small, low-ceilinged restaurant in a traditional turf-roofed house on Gongin, Tórshavn's oldest street, and it runs closer to a neighbourhood dining room than a temple of haute cuisine. That gap between its casual atmosphere and the precision on the plate is exactly why it deserves a booking on any serious trip to the Faroe Islands.
The set menu is built around fermentation and ageing — the name literally translates as 'fermented' — and the cooking reflects a genuine engagement with Faroese preservation traditions rather than a surface-level nod to local identity. For the food-focused traveller who makes the trip to Tórshavn specifically to eat, Ræst is the right choice at the €€€ price point. Book it for dinner, mid-week if possible, and plan the rest of your Tórshavn evenings around PAZ and ROKS.
The atmosphere at Ræst is intimate and unhurried. The dining rooms are characterful and small, with the low ceilings and thick walls of a centuries-old turf house creating a quieter, more enclosed feel than you get at larger Nordic tasting-menu restaurants. The energy is warm rather than hushed , this is not a room where conversation feels awkward or where staff treat ceremony as a substitute for hospitality. If you are coming from a larger city and expecting the kind of controlled, slightly theatrical environment you might find at Geranium in Copenhagen or RE-NAA in Stavanger, reset your expectations. The room is relaxed. The food is not.
Chef Sebastian Jiménez holds a Michelin NextGen Award (2025), which is a meaningful credential: it is awarded to chefs who show technical originality and vision, not simply competence. His background spans kitchens in Thailand, Indonesia, France, the Netherlands, Russia, and , most significantly , KOKS in the Faroe Islands, where he worked from 2019. That KOKS grounding matters because it means the Faroese fermentation and preservation techniques at Ræst are not borrowed aesthetic; they are rooted in years of direct practice with the ingredients and producers of these islands. The Mexican heritage he brings adds a cross-cultural tension to the menu that, according to multiple sources including the Opinionated About Dining guide (ranked #395 in Europe, 2024), produces dishes that are bold, creative, and well-balanced rather than confused.
The wine programme is the other reason to pay attention here. Ræst was named the Star Wine List #1 in 2025, which is a rare distinction for a restaurant of this size in a city of this scale. For wine-focused travellers , the same audience who might otherwise head straight to Kadeau Bornholm or DILL in Reykjavík , this signals that the list has been curated with real intention. It is not just a functional supplement to the food; it is a genuine part of the experience.
Ræst sits at the junction of two things that rarely coexist cleanly: serious culinary ambition and a room that does not make you feel watched. That combination is harder to find than it sounds, and it is the core reason to choose Ræst over higher-priced alternatives in the Nordic region. You are not paying for theatre. You are paying for cooking that has something to say, delivered in a setting that lets you actually hear it.
Ræst is open Thursday through Saturday, 6–10 pm. It is closed Sunday through Wednesday. That three-night window per week, combined with a small room, means availability is tighter than the Google rating of 4.5 across 122 reviews might suggest. Booking difficulty is rated Easy by Pearl's current data, but that can shift during summer, when Tórshavn sees its highest visitor numbers and the short Northern European travel window concentrates demand. Book at least two to three weeks ahead for a summer visit. Off-season travel (October through March) gives you more flexibility, and the fermentation-forward menu suits the colder months well.
There is no booking phone number in the public record. Check the restaurant's website directly or use a local hotel concierge if you are staying at one of Tórshavn's central properties , see our full Tórshavn hotels guide for options near Gongin.
Ræst is at 8 Gongin, Tórshavn 100, in the old town. The set menu format means timing is dictated by the kitchen rather than the diner. Budget at the €€€ level , comparable to other serious tasting-menu restaurants in second-tier Nordic cities, and significantly less expensive than the flagship Nordic restaurants in Copenhagen or Oslo for a comparable level of ambition. The Google rating of 4.5 (122 reviews) is consistent across a meaningful sample size for a restaurant of this niche. For the rest of your Tórshavn eating and drinking, see our full Tórshavn restaurants guide, our bars guide, and our experiences guide. Visitors interested in wine specifically should also check our Tórshavn wineries guide.
Quick reference: Ræst, 8 Gongin, Tórshavn. Thu–Sat, 6–10 pm. €€€ set menu. Michelin Plate (2025), La Liste 75pts (2026), Star Wine List #1 (2025). Book 2–3 weeks ahead in summer.
See the full comparison below.
Smart casual is the appropriate register. The turf-roofed building and low-ceilinged dining rooms set a relaxed physical tone, and the restaurant does not appear to enforce a formal dress code. That said, the €€€ price point and the set-menu format put it in the same tier as restaurants elsewhere in Europe where guests typically dress up slightly. A clean, considered outfit , not a suit, not hiking gear , is the right call. Tórshavn's weather can be unpredictable, so bring a warm layer regardless of season.
The available data does not confirm a bar-seating option at Ræst. The dining rooms are small and characterful, and the format is a set menu, which usually implies assigned table seating rather than walk-up bar dining. If counter or bar seating is important to you, ROKS is a more casual option at the €€ level. Contact Ræst directly before arrival if flexible seating is a priority.
Dietary requirements are not detailed in the public record, but the set-menu format typical of restaurants at this level usually requires advance notice of allergies or restrictions , not a request on the night. Given the fermentation-heavy menu and the small kitchen, accommodating significant restrictions (severe allergies, vegan diets) may be limited. Contact the restaurant before booking, not after. For a broader sense of dining options in the city, the Tórshavn restaurants guide covers the full range.
Ræst does not serve lunch. The restaurant is open Thursday through Saturday, 6–10 pm only, so dinner is your only option. If you are building a multi-day Tórshavn itinerary, plan your Ræst visit for one of those three evenings and use the remaining days to explore the Áarstova for a New Nordic lunch alternative or ROKS for a lower-cost seafood option at any point.
At the €€€ price point, yes , particularly given the awards profile. A Michelin Plate, La Liste top 100 recognition, a NextGen Award for the chef, and the Star Wine List #1 ranking together constitute a strong case that the kitchen is operating above what the price tier typically delivers. For comparison, similarly credentialed menus at Grön in Helsinki or VYN in Simrishamn sit at comparable or higher price points. The value case here is real. If you are visiting the Faroe Islands specifically for food, Ræst is where your tasting-menu budget should go. PAZ at €€€€ is the only local alternative at a higher spend level.
There is no documented dress code for Ræst, but the setting is a centuries-old turf-roofed house with low-ceilinged, characterful rooms — relaxed in atmosphere, not a white-tablecloth formality. A step up from casual makes sense given the €€€ price point and set-menu format, but leave the black tie at home. Think neat, comfortable, and layered for Faroese weather.
Ræst operates as a shared-table, set-menu restaurant inside a small, intimate turf-roofed house — the format is communal dining, not bar seating. There is no documented bar counter option. If you want flexibility over a fixed menu and shared table, this is not the right format for you.
Ræst's menu is built around fermentation, ageing, and Faroese ingredients — a format that leaves limited room for substitution. Dietary requirements are not addressed in the venue record, so check the venue's official channels before booking at €€€ per head. Given the tightly structured set menu, flagging restrictions well in advance is the practical move.
Ræst does not offer lunch service. The kitchen opens Thursday through Saturday, 6–10 pm only — dinner is the only option. If your Tórshavn itinerary lands on Sunday through Wednesday, you will need to plan around that three-night window.
At €€€, Ræst earns its price through a distinct, coherent point of view: a fermentation-led set menu rooted in Faroese heritage, executed by Sebastian Jiménez — a chef who trained at KOKS and holds a 2025 NextGen Award. La Liste ranked it 75 points in 2026, and it holds a Michelin Plate and the Star Wine List #1 in 2025. For a creative tasting menu in the Faroe Islands, this is the most credentialled option in Tórshavn. If a fixed, fermentation-focused menu is not your format, the value case weakens considerably.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
