Gísli Matt is one of the leading chefs from Iceland despite his young age. He opened the renowned restaurant SLIPPURINN in Vestmannaeyjar with his family back in 2012, at just 23 years of age; a place that celebrates seasonal and sustainable cuisine by using local ingredients of the islands and around. Only open 4 months a year the restaurant has been getting rave reviews from the start, for both serving delicious meals in a casual space along with giving the customer a sense of time and place. Since opening, he’s been a strong voice in talking about building a sustainable food system and making the gap between the chefs and the producers smaller. At the beginning of 2015 he opened the restaurant Matur og Drykkur where the goal was to elevate traditional Icelandic cuisine, digging up forgotten recipes and giving them a new life – he left at the end of 2016.
In 2017 along with two best friends Björn Steinar and Gísli Gríms he opened SKÁL! a casual place in Reykjavík’s first foodhall, Hlemmur Mathöll where Icelandic produce is used in a laid-back setting, where fine-dining elements and techniques are used in simple dishes that are served for really good value.
In October 2021 a book about SLIPPURINN will be published by Phaidon called “SLIPPURINN: recipes and stories about Iceland”.