The Resy Guide to Cozy Noodle Soups in New York

What to order: The mushroom ramyun.

You honestly can’t go wrong with whatever your order at this Michelin-starred Korean restaurant from chef Douglas Kim, and while the wagyu ramyun and gochu ramyun are two of the most popular selections, we’re particularly partial to the mushroom ramyun: earthy and fragrant thanks to the many mushrooms used to compose the dish, it’s topped off with savory parmesan foam, bright lime and chervil, and crisp garlic chips, making every bite and slurp a truly memorable one.

What to order: Beef noodle soup.

Chef Tony Inn’s first solo restaurant after stints at Masa and Kin Gin does not disappoint, and you should know that the beef noodle soup here is sold in limited quantities each day — which only adds to the overwhelming feeling you’ll have when you eat it, knowing that you’re experiencing something special. Housemade noodles, beef shank and tendon, and sauerkraut merge together to create this uniquely savory, warm dish.

What to order: Shoyu ramen.

Rejoice! The Okonomi/Yuji Ramen pop-up in Manhattan is now a permanent fixture inside the same space where Towa is located. (Okonomi/Yuji Ramen operates in the daytime for breakfast and lunch service, and Towa is now open for dinner service only.) The classic shoyu ramen here is made with a rich fish and chicken broth that gets topped with tuna belly chashu and scallions. It’s the perfect way to warm yourself up. P.S. This location also serves breakfast noodles, including a bacon and egg mazemen that’s an ideal way to start your morning.

See also: Ramen Ishida’s bowls are near-perfect, and they don’t get any better than the signature shoyu ramen: a deceptively simple chicken and porcini broth amped up with truffle, with thin and still-springy noodles, chashu pork, chicken breast, shiso, bamboo shoots, and one impeccable jammy egg.

What to order: The phở bò.

See also: You’ll find a chicken phở stunner in the shape of Two Bridges gem Phở Gà Vàng. And there’s also great beefy phở — the Madame phở with short rib — to be found at Madame Vo NYC, as well as the house special phở with roasted bone marrow and oxtail at Hanoi House.

What to order: The duck shio soba.

What to order: The spicy niku hot udon. (Though in all truth, any of the udon soups here are worth venturing out for.)

Those who seek udon know to go to Raku. A noodle soup institution with a bookable location in Soho and another in the East Village, Raku doles out comfort by the piping hot bowlful, brimming with flavorful dashi-based broth and a tangle of plump, chewy, and what sometimes feels like infinitely slurpable udon. The spicy niku udon with beef short ribs and honeycomb tripe has revived many a frozen soul, but with a kitchen built on udon, you can pick your fighter. Pro tip: There are now three different locations of Raku in the city, with outposts in the East Village and Midtown, too.

What to order: The mama more fire.

Rich, complex, and deeply savory, this comforting tom yum noodle soup is a marvel that packs umami in every bite and is garnished with shrimp, squid, crispy pork belly, shrimp and pork patties, lime, and cilantro with silky angel hair rice noodles.

What to order: The bacon, egg, and cheese ramen.

What to order: The classic Tokyo tonkotsu ramen.

With two locations in the city, one in Williamsburg and the other in Midtown Manhattan, you’re never that far away from some of the city’s best ramen. Their signature classic tonkotsu ramen is noted for its rich, complex broth and thick, wavy noodles. And if you want an even more flavorful bowl, opt for their smoked dashi ramen, which adds a touch of smoked fish oil, hamaguri-clams, radish sprouts, and tobiko, too. The other great thing about dining at Tonchin is the variety of other dishes they serve to accompany your noodle soup, from raw bar selections to yakitori options, including a grilled tsukune chicken meatball skewer and another made with American wagyu. 

See also: The best (spicy) vegan ramen in the city at Mr. Taka, and the cloudy miso paitan at Totto Ramen.

What to order: The thenthuk.

Himalaya’s answer to the hearty noodle soup is its quintessential thenthuk, and you can find a stellar version of it at this family-owned restaurant in Woodside, Queens. Made with a deeply aromatic beef bone marrow broth dotted with specks of red chile, the soup boasts Tibetan hand-pulled noodles torn into thick, imperfect-but-texturally-perfect pieces, heady with shaved daikon, cilantro, and morsels of deliciously seasoned beef.

What to order: The spicy miso ramen.

Expect tears to come to your eyes when you dine at Ivan Ramen, both because this broth is spicy in a way that provokes watery eyes and because it’s good enough to make anyone cry. All of the bowls at this famous spot are worth traveling for, but there’s just something about the spicy miso, with its 12 different chiles, dashi chicken broth, niku miso pork, soft egg, raw garlic, and togarashi that always manages to steal our hearts. We don’t even want to know what the “super spicy” version of this dish (for $1 more) is like.

What to order: The Persian herb and noodle stew.

What Sofreh chef-owner Nasim Alikhani calls “Iranian ramen” is a dish steeped in tradition, the sort of timeless and restorative stew every Iranian mom would feed you should you begin to feel an inkling of a cold. At Sofreh, that means whole wheat noodles and lentils piled high with fresh herbs, yogurt, garlic chips, fried mint, and crispy onions — a surprising medley of texture and color.

What to order: The souper soup.

As Murray Hill’s go-to since 1964, Sarge’s has the neighborhood covered with blintzes, chopped liver, and pastrami. But real ones know that the matzo ball soup is where it’s at. Look no further than the souper soup: A clear and buttery chicken stock rich in collagen, matzo the size of a grapefruit like your bubbe made it, noodles, and a very satisfying kreplach (a.k.a. a meat-filled Jewish dumpling, this one’s huge) to finish it off. Practically medicinal and a portion size big enough for two.

See also: The chicken noodle and matzo ball soups at Katz’s and 2nd Ave Deli, as well as the matzo ball soup (sans noodles) from Golden Diner and Veselka (East Village) .

What to order: The pan mee.

If you’re an anchovy hater, beware: This Malaysian noodle soup arrives stacked high with the little umami fish, crisped up and fried. A time-consuming process (the menu notes a 15-to-25-minute wait for the dish), Kopitiam’s pan mee is an incredibly satisfying bowl of hand-ripped noodles soaking up the salty anchovy broth, alongside a winning combination of wood ear and shiitake mushrooms, minced pork, and spinach.

What to order: The goat meat pepper soup.

Dept. of Culture’s “Nigerian American cousin” serves outstanding à la carte fare in Clinton Hill. There’s a lot to love here, but the goat meat pepper soup might just outrank penicillin in our book of the greatest illness-curing inventions of our world. The broth is surprisingly light, poured over hyper-thin noodles and goat meat that almost melts in your mouth. As the name suggests, this soup has a kick, but it’s not overwhelming at all. An ideal sinus clearer, if you will.

What to order: The wonton noodle soup.

The Hong Kong-style cooking at this Chinatown institution has saved many a nighttime reveler in the wee hours of the morning. They may close earlier now than they once did (damn you, COVID), but still one of the best things you can order at this cash-only Cantonese canteen is the wonton noodle soup, where fat pieces of shrimp in translucent dumpling skins float amid a pile of noodles and scallions plunked in soup. The broth could cure any ailment alone, but if you’re feeling peckish, do top your bowl with roast duck or pork.

See also: The wonton noodle soup from nearby Noodle Village, accompanied by some of the city’s best xialongbao; and the off-menu curry beef stew with flat noodles from another Chinatown classic, Bo Ky.

What to order: The khao soi kaa kai.

Uncle Boons still lives in some of the dishes at Ann Redding and Matt Danzer’s spiffy Thai Diner. Case in point: The khao soi kaa kai, a Northern Thai-style golden curry rich in creamy coconut milk, flecked with egg noodles, pickled mustard greens, fresh turmeric, and a riot of deep-fried noodles (that only get tastier when soaked), with a wonderfully braised chicken leg sticking out.

See also: The khao soi at SkyIce and Pig & Khao (UWS).

What to order: The crossing-the-bridge noodles.

Artist Stephanie Shih was the first to clue us in on the marvel of quoqiao mixian or crossing-the-bridge noodles, a rare Yunnanese specialty found in Brooklyn’s Chinatown of Sunset Park. Order it and you’ll find yourself presented with a large bowl of bubbling and peppery broth — the kind you know has been pored over for hours, if not longer — and a plate heaped with pork, Silkie chicken, tofu, a quail egg, vegetables, and freshly made noodles, to be rapidly thrown in raw in quick succession and cooked in the soup.

What to order: The signature yuzu shio ramen.

What to order: The gya thug.

Over in Jackson Heights, Khampa Kitchen keeps a piece of home alive with its Tibetan homestyle cuisine. Most particularly, the Kham region of Tibet, from which the owners’ families forage herbs for them. Perhaps that’s why the gya thug is so intoxicating. Think a complex, herbal, and numbing broth, featuring linguini-like pasta like you’d find in a supermarket (only in Queens), capped with greens and chunks of your choice of protein — we like chicken or tofu.

What to order: The longevity noodles.

Inspired by China’s longevity noodles (long noodles that symbolize a long life, which you’re bound to find at every Lunar New Year table this year and next), Jean-Georges Vongerichten offers his own take on the traditional dish at his seafood enclave (which is quite possibly The Fulton’s sleeper hit), with a half-pound of glazed Maine lobster cut into sizeable nuggets taking center stage in a gingery broth filled with wheat noodles, pea shoots, and green chiles.

What to order: The tortellini en brodo cup to go.

Missy Robbins revelers would be remiss without their seasonal pilgrimage to Lilia’s next-door takeout window. Stay on the lookout for the tortellini en brodo, which only comes when the cold hits and is served up in a to-go cup, so you may sip it then and there, or as you stroll through McCarren Park.