Rugbraud is a dense, dark and slightly sweet Icelandic rye bread, traditionally steam-baked for many hours. In some places it is still buried in geothermal ground to cook, earning the nickname thunder bread.
Rye grew where wheat could not, so dark rye bread became the everyday loaf of Iceland. The most famous version, hverabraud, is baked by burying a covered pot in hot geothermal soil near hot springs and leaving it for up to 24 hours, producing a moist, almost cake-like loaf. It is served sliced thin with butter, smoked lamb or pickled herring. In Reykjavik you find it at Cafe Loki and the old bakeries, and even as a rye-bread ice cream.
3 editor picks for Rugbraud (geothermal rye bread) in Reykjavik, ranked by editorial score. All Reykjavik signature dishes · Rugbraud (geothermal rye bread) across every city.
Sandholt ★ 4.4
101 · Laugavegur 36, 101 Reykjavik
Sandholt on Laugavegur is a 1920 family bakery and cafe in Reykjavik, where the all-day sourdough breakfast and pastry counter draw a main-street crowd.
Bernhoftsbakari ★ 4.4
101 · Klapparstigur 3, 101 Reykjavik
Bernhoftsbakari, founded 1834, is Iceland's oldest business, a Reykjavik bakery now run by the fifth generation and stocked with snudur and kleinur.
Cafe Loki ★ 4.2
101 · Lokastigur 28, 101 Reykjavik
Cafe Loki faces Hallgrimskirkja from Lokastigur, a Reykjavik cafe built on traditional Icelandic plates of dark rye bread, mashed fish and rye ice cream.