Montrealers quickly embraced animal-free Umami as a home run after it opened in 2019. That's because you'll hardly miss that pork belly with noodles and tofu made in-house from organic ingredients and a shoyu broth with yuba (bean curd skin) and tomato confit. Want to recreate the meal at home? Umami is opening a Mont-Royal Avenue grocery store selling its ingredients in October 2022.

This top-tier Mile End joint focuses on tori-paitan, a silky chicken-based broth that first earned Jurapei Iwakiri praise at his former downtown bistro Schlouppe. Have it spicy, with extra pork, or, when available, even vacuum-packed and frozen — perfect for proactively stocking your freezer for the long winter ahead.

When downtown Montreal reached peak ramen a few years ago, Mile End was left in the dust — until this soup shop opened up. It keeps things simple by offering ramen with some side dishes and matcha cheesecake for dessert. The specialty here is a rich tonkotsu ramen, but there is a vegan soy broth option, plus some cold noodles in warmer months.

Specializing in the milky, pork-based tonkotsu ramen from Japan’s Hakata region and cooking with all-organic ingredients, Yokato Yokabai is routinely hailed as Montreal’s best in the category. The ramen house, which forms one-half of the Plateau space shared with izakaya Ichigo Ichie, is helmed by Kevin Fung, the owner of indispensable table-banging Westmount spot Imadake, where one can also grab a great bowl of ramen — on top of other izakaya fare.

Ramen Ya has built a reputation as a quieter, cozier place for traditional ramen in the city. With a classic tonkotsu option, a lesser-seen spicy miso beef version, and a vegan broth offering, it’s a solid choice for anyone in the Plateau area craving some soup.

Reputable Toronto ramen chain Sansotei opened its first Montreal location in the summer of 2020 — and has been serving bowl upon bowl of creamy, Hakata-style tonkotsu pork broth to the city’s diners ever since. Black garlic, miso, shoyu, tomato, and spicy are also on the menu, with prices at just under $20 a bowl. Now with a second location in the Plateau.

Montreal can count itself among the 30 locations worldwide that host its own Misoya Ramen franchise from Japan — and distance from the source doesn’t detract from the flavour. On the contrary, Misoya’s clout and specialization in three types of miso broth make this ramen restaurant a must.

First Toronto, now Montreal: Since setting up shop in May 2016, Kinton Ramen (an affiliate of Kinka izakaya) has raised the ramen stakes with seven outposts in and around the city that mix the Japanese craft with Canadian ingredients. Diners who finish a bowl to the last drop can become an official Kinton Bowler, where more bowls mean more prizes.

Shaughnessy Village may have a reputation as a revolving door of restaurants, but Kazu has established itself as a neighbourhood mainstay. Open since 2010, it is known to generate long line-ups of patrons craving items from its extensive menu, which is fantastic all around — ramen included.

The South Shore outpost of this small Toronto chain — the first outside of Ontario — boasts 14 ramen options. These range from spicy red miso and tonkotsu broth to an assari shoyu variety with a light soy sauce and seafood dashi stock, plus the tsukemen style (where noodles are served dry to dip into broth). Japanese-born chef Koji Zenimaru, who moved to Vancouver in 2004 before heading to Toronto, helms the venture, which now also boasts a Plateau location.