PHLGuide
The Best Ramen Shops In Philly Right Now
photo credit: NICOLE GUGLIELMO
We'll happily eat ramen regardless of season, temperature, or company. But when the weather is awful, the urge for a warm, fatty bowl of soup only gets stronger. Fortunately, Philly has plenty of places to go when you’re in the mood for long noodles and tonkotsu, shoyu, or shio broth. Here are our 13 favorites.
THE SPOTS
This Queen Village BYOB stands out in a sea of Philly ramen shops because they make their own noodles. It's pretty casual: order at the counter, take a number, and serve yourself water while you wait for the goods to arrive. Their rotating Monday night specials are reliably good. But, when in doubt, go for the shoyu ramen. Each bowl has a couple of pieces of pork chashu in a deeply flavorful chicken broth with house shoyu and toppings like scallion, menma, and ajitama.
If you’ve ever driven past 9th & Race, you’ve noticed a line growing around the corner. And no, it’s not people waiting to play mini golf at Franklin Square. Everybody’s waiting for fantastic ramen from at this BYOB. One of our favorites is the mildly spicy tan tan ramen that’s bathing in spicy miso and chicken broth, minced pork, bean sprouts, and chopped scallions.
The tonkotsu ramen at Tomo Sushi & Ramen is the perfect, cloudy soup for every cloudy day. At this Old City BYOB, you can get rich broth topped with menma, scallions, and red ginger, but it’s the pork base and tender pork belly that steal the show.
photo credit: Nicole Guglielmo
We don’t know if it’s the broth, the thick slabs of pork belly, or the chewy noodles that make the cha su ramen from Fishtown’s Da-Wa a go-to for us. OK, it’s all of it. From the broth flowing with chili oil to the smokiness of roasted corn, everything comes together to make a soup that’s just spicy enough for you to feel some heat, but not so overpowering that it takes away from its buttery, pork broth.
photo credit: NICOLE GUGLIELMO
This Japanese spot is convenient when you’re near the Italian Market or when you don’t want to choose between shoyu, tonkotsu, miso, and shio. With juicy chicken and crunchy vegetables swimming in the bowl, the spicy chicken shio version will make you forget about whatever you were doing before you walked in the door.
photo credit: Nicole Guglielmo
If you love spicy food, come to this Manayunk spot for bowls of the spicy katsu ramen. The deep-fried pork loin is great for sopping up every drop of their fiery signature sauce, but we recommend having a drink on hand.
photo credit: Hiro Ramen
This small shop in Midtown Village almost feels like a small noodle shop in Osaka, except there are Phillies fans out front. The main attraction here is the black pig ramen with creamy Berkshire pork tonkotsu broth and slow-cooked pork belly. It’s rich, flavorful, and perfectly balanced between heat and saltiness.
The brisket ramen at Cheu in Fishtown is more satisfying than a barista spelling your name right on the first try. The brisket is soft, juicy, and incredibly flavorful. It’s not every day you see a matzo ball in a ramen bowl, but the combination works in this spicy dish.
photo credit: Aki Nom Nom
Midtown Village’s Aki Nom Nom is one of the few ramen spots in the city offering outdoor seating. Whether you’re inhaling the fragrant Karai Tonkotsu on their outdoor setup or taking it to go, the earthy spice of the black garlic oil and the rich and milky broth make this a dish that’s hearty and silky smooth.
photo credit: Megumi Ramen
One of our favorite dishes at this Chinatown restaurant is the Megumi spicy miso ramen. With curly noodles, heaps of cabbage, fried burdock root, onion, and chashu swimming in the bowl, the only time you’ll pause while eating is deciding whether to use your spoon or chopsticks for the first bite.
photo credit: Nicole Guglielmo
The soft wavy noodles in the Zenbu No-Se Ramen at this University City spot are great for making sure you get those extra drops of broth with each bite. And this tonkotsu broth option feels like it has more toppings than South Street has bars. There’s marinated chashu pork, corn, menma, red pickled ginger, kikurage, a half-boiled egg, naruto, nori, sesame, and scallions, all sprinkled with roasted garlic oil on top.
photo credit: Nicole Guglielmo
Our favorite ramen option at this Center City spot also happens to be the spiciest on the menu. The Hakata Ramen’s fiery pork base is nicely balanced by pickled cabbage, red ginger, seaweed flakes, and a marinated egg. Plus, there's tender char siu.
photo credit: Nicole Guglielmo
Yamitsuki’s veggie miso ramen is long-weekend-level restorative, with salty and miso flavors coming through in every spoonful of the broth that’s covered in sweet corn, scallion, bamboo, and bean sprouts.