Apótek occupies the ground floor of a building designed by Guðjón Samúelsson — the one-time state architect of Iceland, whose work includes Hallgrímskirkja, the country's most iconic church. The building at Austurstræti 16 was constructed in the early 1930s and housed Reykjavíkurapotek, the city's primary pharmacy, from 1930 to 1999. When the pharmacy closed after nearly seven decades of dispensing medicine from behind the same counter, the building became available for its current, considerably more pleasurable purpose.
The architecture defines the experience. High ceilings — the kind that make you aware of the air above you — original stone pillars of Icelandic basalt, large arched windows that frame the street outside like paintings: the space carries a grandeur that Samúelsson built for civic importance. The restaurant uses this grandeur without exploitation, filling it with the energy of good food, excellent cocktails, and a clientele that understands it is participating in something architecturally significant.
The menu is a confident, cosmopolitan operation: a fun mix of Icelandic and European cuisine with a smoking hot Argentinian grill providing the protein backbone. The seven-course Icelandic Gourmet Menu is the definitive experience — a sequence of local fish and meats including puffin, plaice, and free-range Icelandic lamb that uses the theatrical setting to maximum advantage. À la carte covers fresh Icelandic seafood, beautifully prepared cuts from the Argentine-inspired grill, and creative desserts that match the building's personality.
The cocktail bar is operationally significant and genuinely brilliant. Award-winning bartenders — referred to, in the pharmacy conceit, as pharmacists — develop cocktails categorised by pharmacological function: painkillers, stimulants, tranquillisers, and placebos. The programme takes its premise seriously enough to produce cocktails that are genuinely exceptional by any standard beyond the conceit alone. The non-alcoholic versions receive equivalent creative attention.