Fjöruborðið
History Late in the 1980's Rut Gunnarsdóttir had the idea of opening a café in Stokkseyri, a small fishing town on the shores of the Atlantic ocean. At the time her venture was considered extremely optimistic. But, not to be deterred Rut, with the help of locals, set up a cozy café in an old search and rescue shed.The house is located by the sea wall in Stokkseyri, hence the restaurant's name "On the seashore". With a simple menu of home-made cakes and soup business thrived. The lobster soup proved particularly popular and soon became the house speciality. Rut ran the café for three years, after which Unnur Ása, who had been working there, took over.Unnur started buying lobster from Humarvinnslan, the lobster processing factory next door. Her original dish of lobster fried in garlic, butter and secret spice mixes, served with trimmings and potatoes is, still today, Fjöruborðið's signature dish. The restaurant's popularity continued to grow and soon the rescue team's garage, attached to the house, was converted into a dining hall for 70 people. This new extension proved ideal for large groups, both tourists and Icelandic staff parties whilst the original hall carried on being a cozy place for families and smaller parties. Another extension was built to accommodate a new kitchen, bakery and improved facilities.Finally Unnur Ása built an insulated marquee seating 100 guests. The marquee at Fjöruborðið is now well known, both locally and internationally. It has hosted many festivities and concerts, due to its great acoustics. In the spring of 2005 the management of the operation was taken over by the company Flóð og fjara ehf. Its proprietor is chef Róbert Ólafsson. An extension with a cozy dining area and a beautiful ocean view was added. The whole restaurant now seats 240 guests at a time (The original and ocean view halls seat 70, the old garage seats 70 and the marquee seats 100).More than 35 thousand people visit Fjöruborðið annually to partake the special atmosphere, food and drink. Fjöruborðið places great emphasis on using local produce and avoiding processed foods. Lobster is bought from the fishing towns of Höfn in Hornarfjörður (South-East Iceland) and Þorlákshöfn (South-West Iceland) and no less than 15 tons of it flow through the kitchen each year.
