Top 5 ramen in Toronto
Published January 23, 2025 at 9:59 am
A steamy bowl of ramen is comforting any time of year, but it’s especially satisfying to slurp up those noodles when it’s cold and snowy outside. This is arguably one of the most popular dishes in Japanese cuisine, and there are lots of great places to get it in Toronto.
Excellent ramen has flavourful and often rich broth, lots of chewy noodles, and is usually laden with thick slices of fatty pork chashu. However, there are tons of variations on the dish, from fiery hot to vegan, and you can often add whatever toppings your heart desires, like nori or egg.
The comforting atmosphere of a raman restaurant can be as important as the dish itself, with staff often shouting greetings and thanks as you enter and exit.
Here’s some of Toronto’s top ramen.
5 – Tondou Ramen
If you’re looking for a taste of Okinawa-style ramen, head to this restaurant in Little Italy named after a busy Okinawa port.
Opt for the tonkotsu ramen and you’ll receive a very fatty, almost viscous pork bone broth with egg white noodles, two slices of pork chashu, bean sprouts, kikurage mushroom, scallions and a marinated soft boiled egg. Garlic oil and spicy miso are two popular variants on this ramen, and they also serve lots of other options for noodles like soba, Taiwan ramen, plant-based tantan ramen and tsukemen.
This is one of the places where lots of extras like sesame seeds and chili oil are placed on every table so you can make each bite a little different.
4 – Kinton Ramen
This restaurant is a typical go-to for anyone craving classic ramen served with a giant wooden spoon.
They serve pork, beef, chicken and vegetarian ramen in original, shoyu, miso and spicy garlic varieties. They’re also known for their creative seasonal specials that are always changing.
The original style is a good place to start when you visit Kinton, with a very opaque and creamy broth and big fat slices of chashu, if you opt for the pork.
Find Tokyo-style ramen at this cozy restaurant that doubles as a listening room. This kind of ramen is distinguished by thin noodles, lighter chicken broth as opposed to heavier pork bone broth, and some proteins you might not always typically associate with ramen.
For example, the shio ramen comes with pork, chicken and a few tiny clams for a briny pop. Other ramen varieties include duck umami soy, vegan miso, and clear Tokyo soy with wontons.
Don’t miss out on their other snacks, either, as they also do sandos and a full selection of tasty appetizers.
2 – Musoshin Ramen
Michelin-recommended ramen can be found at this intimate, homey restaurant on Roncesvalles. This Kyoto-style restaurant actually has locations in Kyoto and Osaka, so the ramen here tastes like you’ve been transported to Japan.
What the portions lack in size they more than make up for in quality, with a deeply flavourful broth and seriously bouncy, chewy noodles made fresh in house using aged flour. Surprisingly, the broth is actually veggie-based so it’s a little lighter than most.
The classic Musoshin ramen has a chicken, pork and veggie broth, and is topped with chashu, bamboo shoots and green onion.
1 – Ramen Isshin
Fans of ramen know that locations of this restaurant are the place to go when looking for a traditional bowl of delicious ramen.
Even if you’re looking for something a little different, Isshin is still a great choice, as they have a wide selection of ramen styles like their signature wok fried red miso ramen, tsukemen, black sesame tan tan noodle, white sesame shio and vegetarian ramen.
The kotteri rich shoyu is a great choice for those looking for a classic rich, creamy, heavy ramen broth that warms you from the inside out. Generous portions of wavy, bouncy noodles are seemingly never-ending.