SEAGuide
The Best Soup In Seattle
photo credit: Nate Watters
Maybe your car battery died. Or you’re so congested that you panicked and cleaned CVS out of Flonase. It’s also possible that you just realized your roommate has been using your toothbrush ever since they moved in. These are all situations that can improve exponentially with hot soup. Granted, broth and noodles can’t find you a new roommate, but at least it can make you feel a little better. Maybe nothing bad happened at all, but still, you just want some soup. It happens. Here are the best restaurants to get some.
THE SPOTS
If you want soup but you also need a peaceful setting, Kamonegi is your place. The soba at this Japanese spot is so pure and comforting that it feels like taking a bath, except for the fact that Lush doesn’t make mushroom broth and buckwheat noodle glitter bombs (yet). Don’t forget the tempura and duck meatballs.
photo credit: Nate Watters
The corn soup at this Beacon Hill Guamanian spot starts with a coconutty corn broth accented by spiced oil droplets, and that liquid velvet alone is beyond slurpable. But the beauty here is the crunch on top. Raw scallion gives it an edge, crisp kernels of corn remind you what kind of soup this is, chicken thigh chunks add meatiness, and fried garlic crumbs act as toasty sprinkles.
photo credit: Nate Watters
Miss Pho is a seemingly ordinary strip mall Vietnamese restaurant in Greenwood, but nothing about their soup is ordinary at all. Phở hà nội overflows with broth, topped with a raw yolk that works just as well dissolved into the soup as it does strategically dolloped onto each bite of rice noodle and beef shank. Mushroom-steeped phở takes on oxtail flavors sans oxtail. And their phở sa tế is the platonic ideal of spicy soup, complete with paper-thin beef, snipped herbs, and peanuts in a creamy chili oil-slicked broth that clings to each rice noodle.
photo credit: Brooke Fitts
Danbo is a ramen chain that originated in Vancouver and is big on customization. So you can decide things like noodle thickness and firmness, spice level, richness, and even broth thickness. It’d be a challenge not to find your soulmate ramen in here.
photo credit: Nate Watters
Sure, we're really in Lotus Pond's BBQ pork soup for the shrimp and pork dumplings submerged inside, which are some of the best in town. The filling is generously seasoned, and when the wrapper edges get plump with schmaltzy broth, it's a beautiful thing. But wontons aside, this thing is still an exemplary (and massive) bowl of broth, chewy egg noodles, and tender hunks of delicious meat.
Sometimes, you just need to eat a half-gallon of clam chowder out of a hollowed-out boule of sourdough, and that’s OK. That’s why Pike Place Chowder exists (in addition to being a tourist holding area). There are a couple of different kinds of chowder here, but always pick the creamy clam over the smoked salmon chowder that tastes a little too much like cream cheese and looks a little too much like Pepto Bismol.
photo credit: Ba Bar
Ba Bar is somehow always packed, so eating pho here is always a bit of a to-do. But their phở is delicious. You’re in good hands with the phở tái nạm, complete with rare shaved eye of round, buttery slices of brisket, and a comforting, cinnamon-forward broth. And when your bowl is empty, the fun is certainly not over—grab a wafer cone piped with soft serve for your burnt tongue.
photo credit: Nate Watters
Noodle/Bar in South Lake Union is a beacon of light on a crummy weather day no matter what you order, be it fantastic dumplings stained orange with chili sauce, or braised tofu and mushrooms over rice. But if you're still shivering through your Patagonia puffer, you want this soupy bowl of wanza mian with ground pork, tender Chinese broccoli, and chickpeas. It has nutrients, it has a slow-burning spice, and it has your name written all over it. Especially if your name is Noodle.
It’s debatable whether khao soi is soup, stew, or noodles, but we’re not interested in the semantics of things—we just want hot liquid in a bowl. The combination of coconut milk, curry, egg noodles, and a slight zing from lime makes Bangrak Market’s khao soi the perfect thing when you're craving both soup and something that has creaminess and spice.
One of the reasons we like Pho Viet Anh so much is that they play sultry jazz instrumental covers of Top 40 songs. There’s just something special about sipping soup while listening to a saxophone rendition of “Shake It Off.” Choose between four different broths with any type of protein (you’re going to want the spicy beef broth if you can handle it), and get an order of the fried pork and shrimp spring rolls, too.
Ooink is a small ramen spot in a neighborhood where there are lots of other places to eat noodle soup. But this one stands out because the pork is really tender and the overstuffed gyoza are outstanding. The only drawback is that it’s tiny in here, so don’t come with a group. Pop in alone or with one other person when a hot bowl of broth is necessary, like when you get teeth pulled, fired from your job, or both on the same day.
Deru is a market one of your friends might describe as “rustic California chic.” It’s in a residential pocket of Kirkland, and it happens to be a fantastic place to eat anything, especially soup. The soup rotates every day, but we’ve seen corn chowder, cauliflower potato leek, and carrot topped with pepitas, and they’re all outrageously good, especially on a rainy night with a stick of focaccia for dipping and a beet iced tea.
If you’re in the mood for chicken soup but want something a lot heartier, check out the avgolemono at Nikos Gyros. It’s thick, lemony, and has a terrific broth-to-rice-to-chicken ratio. We like eating it at a comfortable table with a hot side of pita, but we don’t blame you if you get it to-go and drink it like coffee in your car.