Tales of the Table · Anniversary · Downtown 101
Since 1979: the family corner that brought pizza to Reykjavík
On 23 July 1979 Jakob H. Magnússon unlocked the door at Hafnarstræti 15 – and Reykjavík got what is generally credited as Iceland's first proper made-to-order pizza. Forty-seven years later, the same family is still behind the counter.
Jakob, a trained master chef, opened Hornið together with his relative Guðni, and the restaurant has been in the family ever since. In the early years nothing came easy: the kitchen made its own pepperoni from scratch, and even getting hold of decent coffee beans was a struggle in an Iceland that had never seen an Italian-style pizzeria.
Today Jakob still works in the kitchen, now alongside his children – and the grandchildren have joined the staff too. His son Hlynur has described it simply as a family business from start to finish, and the family's own motto for the place is that it is “always the same” at Hafnarstræti.
There is more under the floor than pizza ovens. The basement bar, Djúpið, hosted the very first concert by a young band then called Victory Rose – better known today as Sigur Rós. It was reopened for the restaurant's 40th birthday in 2019.
This autumn the walls double as a gallery: the photo exhibition “Layers” by filmmaker Jakob Halldórsson hangs in The Gallerý at Hornið until 4 December 2026. The big one, the 50th, comes in 2029.
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