It’s dark and rainy outside, and a bowl of ramen might be just what you need to pick up your spirits.
Hundreds of readers nominated their favorite ramen shops in the Portland area, and the 10 that received the most nods are finalists for The Oregonian’s Readers Choice Awards.
You can vote for the best place for ramen once a day at this link or at the bottom of this post until 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. We’ll reveal the results Friday, Nov. 22 at oregonlive.com/readers-choice.
Afuri
This Tokyo-based chain known for its clear, citrus-spiked yuzu shio ramen picked Portland for its first international location in 2016. Now, it has dozens of restaurants in Japan, the United States, Canada and Portugal, including two in Portland and one in Beaverton. And there’s more than just ramen to love. Our dining critic Michael Russell picked Afuri’s Winged Gyoza as one of Portland’s best dumplings last year.
1620 N.W. 21st Ave., Portland, 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 5-10 p.m. Monday-Friday, 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday, 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday; 50 S.W. 3rd Ave., Portland, 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m. daily; 12555 S.W. 1st St., Beaverton, 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 5-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday; afuriramen.com
Baka Umai Ramen House
Japanese slang for “stupid delicious,” Baka Umai offers 12 different ramens, several of which have vegetarian or vegan options. The spicy ramen options got several shout outs from nominators, and one reader said the pork broth is “easily the best in the city.”
4707 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd. Ste 100, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and 5-9 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 12-7:30 p.m. Sunday; bakaumai.com
FuddoYama Ramen
FuddoYama offers a dozen different ramens, including the Oregon Deluxe, a tonkotsu broth with pesto paste topped with your choice of meat, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, crunchy onions, corn, green onions and half an ajitama. “It’s a quirky suburban joint with robot delivery, limited cocktails, Japanese knick-knacks, and that black garlic broth is to die for,” said one reader.
8610 S.W. Hall Blvd., Beaverton, 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 5-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday-Sunday; fuddoyamaramenpdx.com
Kayo’s Ramen Bar
Kayo’s has a lengthy menu of traditional ramens, half of which are vegan. “The TanTan ramen is just a delicacy, and Kayo does it better than anyone else,” said one reader.
3808 N. Williams Ave. #124, 11:30 a.m.-2:15 p.m. and 5-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 1:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday; kayosramen.com
Kinboshi Ramen
Kinoboshi, which says it takes pride in being the first to bring Hakata style ramen to Portland, opened in 2016. “The broth is so spicy and warming, best ramen I’ve had in Portland,” said one reader. “While the menu is a bit limited, that enables them to provide faster service and the quality of what they serve is impeccable,” another reader said.
609 S.E. Ankeny St., Suite A, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. daily; kinboshiramen.com
Mirakutei Sushi & Ramen
Already the winner of the best sushi category in our Readers Choice Awards, Mirakutei is also one of Russell’s picks for the best ramen. His favorite is the tonkotsu, a shockingly creamy pork broth with good noodles, caramelized onions and mushrooms seared in brown butter. It might be the most umami-loaded slurp in Portland.
536 E. Burnside St., 12-9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 12-10 p.m. Saturday; mirakutei.com
Ramen Ryoma
The Portland/San Diego/Santiago, Chile, chain makes rustic temomi ramen noodles by hand and says the uneven, wavy noodle offers a unique texture and doesn’t get soggy while soaking in the broth. “Just a simple but bold and delicious flavor with great noodles and delicious toppings. How ramen should be,” said one reader.
1037 S.W. Morrison St., Portland, 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 5-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11:30 a.m.-12 a.m. Friday-Saturday, 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday; 10500 S.W. Beaverton Hillsdale Hwy., Beaverton, 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 5-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday-Sunday; ramenryoma.net
Dining critic Michael Russell calls Takibi’s shoyu ramen “elegant.”Michael Russell | The Oregonian
Takibi
Located inside Snow Peak’s U.S. headquarters, Takibi offers world-class ramen with imported noodles made from snow-aged flour. Russell calls Takibi’s ramen ”elegant,” with luxurious broths that drape around those noodles like velvet cloth and unusual toppings such as chashu sliced thin and pink like roast beef.
2275 N.W. Flanders St., ramen is served 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday; takibipdx.com
Toya Ramen & Bar
The result of chef Colin Yoshimoto’s quest to make the perfect noodles when he found himself with some extra time on his hands during the pandemic, Toya specializes in chintan soups, aka clear broths. It’s “some of the best chintan shoyu ramen outside of Japan. Elevated and very well balanced,” said one reader.
803 S.E. Stark St., 4:30-9:30 p.m. Thursday-Monday; toyaramen.com
Wu-Rons
In the shadow of the Hawthorne Bridge, Wu-Rons makes a Nagahama-style bowl with thin noodles arranged under floating fields of green onion and sesame seeds on a tonkotsu (pork) and soy-based broth. “I am half Japanese and it is the only place that comes close to Japan. … Wu-Rons has the best broth,” said one reader.
1430 S.E. Water Ave., 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. and 4:30-7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, 12-2:30 p.m. and 5-8 p.m. Friday-Sunday; @wurons on Instagram
Vote here
You can vote once a day until 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. We’ll reveal the results Friday, Nov. 22 at oregonlive.com/readers-choice.
Mims Copeland is a social media producer and covers trending topics for The Oregonian/OregonLive. Reach her at [email protected]
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