Serves meat, vegan options available. A comfortable walk-up cafe in the city center with a rooftop deck. Offers crepes and lasagna on the menu, as well as cakes and cookies. Cafe drinks including coffee, tea, beer & wine. Has a vegan carrot cake for around 700 kr and chamomile soy latte. The owner seems to be a transplant from New York City who uses his own recipes for everything made there, including New York Cheesecake & chocolate cake (with dairy and egg). Has Wi-Fi. Kitchen closes at 10pm. Open Mon-Sun 8:00am-10:30pm.
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Last update on 25 Jul 2020 by jwilczynski
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59 Reviews
First Review by Sarah P
Shel Graves
Points +262
A warm geek friendly cafe with vegan carrot cake! - Edit
A great place to stop in for a bowl of veggie chili with a generous serving of corn chips and warm up with a soy latte before heading back out to explore. There's more seating upstairs. Help yourself to water and self-serve drip coffee after ordering. Order at the counter and then they bring you out your treats.
Read moreIt's a warm comfy and cute place to hang out down the street from the landmark Hallgrimskirkja cathedral.
Be sure to check out the wonderful Star Wars themed restroom and have a slice of the wonderful vegan carrot cake!
Pros: Carrot Cake, Geek Friendly, Soy Latte stop
Guest
LucienSea
Points +255
Fun place - Edit
All I had was a generous carrot cake and coffee which was good enough. Fun over the top kitschy decor
Read moreGuest
JessLamb
Points +102
Tasty bean chilli + nachos - Edit
“The best chilli I’ve ever had” said by my non-vegan friend who had it! The bean chilli with nachos was really tasty and a good portion size. The only other option I spotted was the vegan soup and vegan carrot cake for dessert - I also had an oat Chai Latte. More options would be great but the existing are pretty fab!
Read moreUpdated from previous review on 2024-02-24
Pros: Very tasty food, Plant milk available , Cheap prices for Iceland
Cons: Not a lot of options
Guest
Yramatram
Points +533
Such a vibe! - Edit
My fav cafe in Reykjavik. Lots of vegan and gluten free choices.. Good music taste and cozy and warm place for a nice breakfast or tea time. Tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich for lunch is quite cheap and good!!!
Read moreUpdated from previous review on 2023-04-21
Guest
Chriscroc
Points +334
Nice cake, very crowded place - Edit
We stopped at Cafe Babalu to try the vegan carrot cake, which is excellent. We also had a latte with oat milk (I think there's an extra charge for plant milk) and a breakfast tea with soy milk. It was fairly expensive but the cake was nice.
Read moreAs the cafe is on one of the main roads to the famous church it can get very busy. The barista who served us was lovely but seemed to be having to take all the orders one at a time and making the hot drinks himself. There were other staff presumably only working in the kitchen.
There was a vegan cauliflower soup on the board but this looked like a special dish rather than a regular one, but I could be wrong.
Pros: Nice vegan carrot cake, Vegan milks for coffee (extra charge)
Cons: Very busy, Only one or two vegan food options
Guest
Sassyvegan
Points +1595
Excellent carrot cake - Edit
Really chunky and well made vegan carrot cake. It’s a nice and chill café. I haven’t tried any of the other food they offer but its worth popping in just for the carrot cake.
Read moreGuest
themammamia
Points +172
Kitsch - Edit
Cute little stop for a hot chocolate and swiss moca (which seems to be the same as a normal mocha?) when checking out nearby sights. Can wander down to the rainbow road after. Visited here as read online the owners are gay and wanted to support a local queer business whilst here! Limited vegan options for food (soup and carrot cake, no vegan cheese toastie as I read below).
Read moreVery busy place, wouldn’t take my kid there as its hectic. Queued for 35 mins to order and had to share a table with strangers to fit in. Food was another 30 minute wait. It was a snow storm outside so probably not always that busy! #Veganuary
Pros: Local independent business , Had 3 milk options - oat, soya and almond, Quirky decoration
Cons: Not wheelchair accessible, Not enough staff to cope with demand that day, Expensive (worked out about £7 for one drink)
Guest
RhiannonC
Points +588
Could spend hours in here looking at everything :) - Edit
I love this place, it is cozy and we all loved the crazy decorated interior. The fact it had a resident cat was a bonus! I had the soup and carrot cake and it was yum!
Read moreGuest
Nenox
Points +281
Vegan carrot cake - Edit
I came here solely for the vegan carrot cake. Time well spent as it was magnificent!
Read moreGuest
kirbythevegan
Points +581
Very cute - Edit
Outside and inside this place is so cute and charming (I think they have a cat living there)! The vibe is very cozy and the owner was super nice. When we walked in it wasn’t clear where to go, so a sign pointing customers to order at the counter might be helpful, but we figured it out eventually. They don’t have many different vegan options, but the vegan chili was excellent and well-spiced. We loved our coffee drinks as well (I had the Swiss mocha with oat milk and it was yummy).
Read morePros: Cute and cozy atmosphere, Delicious food and drinks, Friendly staff
Cons: Limited options
Guest
SaskiaGrosshans
Points +154
To sweet - Edit
This place is very lovely and special. We joked about if the owners asked their grandparents for some old furnitures and pictures.
Read moreWe just at the carot cake and for me it was to less carots but to much sugar in the cake.
Guest
OliverClague
Points +22
Nice place but no real vegan options - Edit
Had a vegan soup and chilli, but that's all. Wouldn't reccomend for breakfast.
Read moreCons: Lack of vegan options
Guest
SoniaSoniaSonia
Points +302
Great place - Edit
Great place, chilled ambience, very friendly staff. I had a delicious veggie lasagne. Definitely recommend this quirky decorated place in central Reykjavik!!
Read moreGuest
lilali
Points +327
Individually cafe - Edit
My favorite cafe in Reykjavik :). Very cozy and individually decorated. very tasty cappuccino! The prices are higher, but normal for Iceland.
Read moreGuest
anastas_t
Points +67
Nice atmosphere - Edit
Bumped into this cosy cafe on a very cold day during February 2020. Place is very nice and cosy inside. We had a latte with soy milk, a sandwich with vegan cheese and spinach (comes with either a salad or fries) and a carrot cake. Everything was nice and tasty. I particularly loved the carrot cake. Recommended.
Read morePros: Nice atmosphere, Vegan carrot cake, Vegan sandwich
Guest
TheVeganVoyager
Points +30
Great grilled cheese sandwich - Edit
Quickly little cafe selling a vegan grilled cheese sandwich and a vegan carrot cake. Wasn’t too expensive. Very nice!
Read moreGuest
peggie305
Points +34
Had the vegan chilly. Really good on an overcast day. - Edit
Place your order up front and sit where you like. The patio was perfect to people watch. The vegan chilly had the perfect amount of spices.
Read moreGuest
EllanaCaldin
Points +68
Super chouette - Edit
Déco géniale, chili vegan assez bon, gâteau carotte exquis, eau fraîche à disposition, très jolie terrasse, mais serveuse pas trop aimable !
Read morePros: Décoration fantastique et toilettes star wars, Cour avec un peu de verdure, Très central comme location
Cons: Personnel peu aimable
Guest
niff
Points +13
Food wasn’t nice, drinks are ok. - Edit
I had the spinach crepe, the carrot cake and the cappuccino. The drink was the only nice thing in the menu. The food was bad, the crepe was very wet and the carrot cake was strangely bitter. Too bad because the place is lovely (and the toilet are amazing!)
Read morePros: Nice drinks
Cons: Expensive, Untasty
Guest
maxielane
Points +6
Coziest place in the city! - Edit
Perfect to enjoy a cup of tea and sink into a book
Read moreGuest
fayrobertsface
Points +47
The most cosy place in Reykjavik - Edit
Very simple vegan menu (vegan chilli and carrot cake), but the portions are large and I could easily spend all afternoon chilling out in this lovely little cafe. Soya milk available
Read moreGuest
MichaelWatson
Points +32
Good chilli & carrot cake - Edit
Not much on offer for vegans but the chilli and carrot cake is great, and the vibe is very special. Lovely staff. Has soya milk.
Read morePros: Great vibes, Lovely staff, Vegan options
Cons: Limited menu, Not enough milk options
Guest
markusz86
Points +1369
Vegan carrot cake & good coffee - Edit
The vegan carrot cake tasted really good and also the home brewed chai latte was nice!
Read moreCons: Not many vegan options
Guest
sophcallister
Points +42
yummy - Edit
Such a cute restaurant with lovely staff and beautiful vegan chilli which comes with corn chips! Best vegan carrot cake I’ve ever had out of vegan or non vegan!
Read morePros: food, atmosphere , staff
Cons: price
Guest
MelG
Points +157
Prices a little steep, pass on the carrot cake - Edit
Cafe Babalu is not the only vegan carrot cake option in town. It is okay here, but a little dry and the frosting fell of the cake in big pieces as I tried to eat it. I suggest you make your way over to C is for Cookie for really phenomenal vegan carrot cake!
Read moreGuest
IsuruPerera
Points +18
friendly and good atmosphere "hygge" - Edit
It was a very nice place with a family feel with lots of space. It had top floor outside rooftop deck.
Read moreFood was good the only improvement would be the number of options as there was 1 vegan plate ( which was very nice ) I also had the carrot cake ( vegan )
Vegetarian
And vegan friendly
Guest
LindseyElizabeth
Points +667
A few nice vegan options - Edit
I love this cafe! It is so unique and very cozy. When I visited in the winter with my husband, we would often bring books here and hang out for a few hours. At that time they offered vegan chilli, vegan carrot cake (very tasty!) and they had vegan milk options so you could have hot chocolate. Their tea selection is also great. As others have mentioned, check out their downstairs bathroom - it's hilarious.
Read moreGuest
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