Why A Remote Greenland Town Is Home To A Popular Burger Restaurant

Iceland and Greenland are deceptively named: Iceland is actually mostly verdant and populated enough to have a restaurant known for its famous butter, while Greenland is about 80% covered in ice and largely uninhabited. Understandably, the foodie scene in Greenland is not popping off just yet — you certainly won't find any Michelin-starred eateries in the capital of Nuuk or elsewhere (though part of getting a Michelin star means a restaurant must be in a specific region anyway). What Greenland does have are towering, gorgeous glaciers and miles upon miles of pristine wilderness inhabited by the occasional polar bear. Among the settlements dotted mostly along the coastline of Greenland is the tiny village of Ittoqqortoormiit. Notably, Ittoqqortoormiit is home to a single restaurant, the Orormersiarderdarpi Grill Café. Its name translates into "the place to get a bite" in the local Eastern Greenlandic dialect.

You may wonder what on Earth they serve at such a far-flung restaurant. Is it the musk oxen and reindeer that resourceful hunters track for food? Nope. Instead, the menu features burgers and hot dogs. Although Ittoqqortoormiit has a few hundred year-round residents, they don't necessarily make up the bulk of the restaurant's clientele. It's actually visiting tourists who get to Ittoqqortoormiit on a long, cold journey by either plane or cruise ship.

To eat at Orormersiarderdarpi Grill Café, you have to get to it first. That involves taking a snowmobile, helicopter, or boat from Nerlerit Inaat, which is first accessed by traveling to Reykjavik or Akureyri, both in Iceland. In the balmy months of the summertime (when temperatures get to the low 40s Fahrenheit!), the sea ice melts enough for cruise ships to make a two-week journey to dock in the port. Once there, visitors can spend the night in a guest house and visit the town's single museum. They can also enjoy sailing, whale watching, and hiking. There used to be a bar in Ittoqqortoormiit, but it shuttered during the pandemic and hasn't yet reopened. When the café debuted in early 2023, it completed the missing puzzle piece of the town's tiny tourism picture.

Unlike the world's oldest restaurant, which features an in-house string quartet, Orormersiarderdarpi is a humble hole-in-the-wall that welcomes visitors like they are family. Visiting Orormersiarderdarpi Grill Café costs around $25 in USD, or 150 Danish Krone, per person. In addition to burgers that reviews say are pretty darn tasty, you also get bragging rights that you dined at a restaurant that few people will ever view, let alone eat at! It's a bucket list visit for sure.