It’s cold, you forgot your lunch, and you need something to lift your spirits for the afternoon. In short, you need a piping hot bowl of noodle soup.

There have always been good noodle soups in Brisbane’s CBD, but great ones were usually fewer and further between.

That’s changed, though, in the past few years as more and more quality operators have opened around the city, often in previously unloved hole-in-the-wall, laneway and food court spots.

From ramen and pho to laksa and Thai boat noodles, these are the noodle soups we find ourselves going back to time and again.

Beef pho at Em Saigon

There’s a lot of solid pho in Brisbane CBD (Pho City and AJ Vietnamese Noodle House both do good ones, and I enjoy the chicken pho from Saigon Alley on Adelaide Street) but after trying bowl after bowl... after bowl, there’s one we keep going back to.

You might know Em Saigon in Gresham Lane for its excellent banh mi (also one of the best in the CBD) but owner Jen Phan’s beef pho is just as good. The secret, she says, is to use plenty of beef bone marrow in the stock and produce it in relatively small batches to enhance the flavour.

The resulting soup has that robust savoury beef umami but distinctive flavour profile you search for in good pho, and isn’t too heavy or too sweet.

Pham finishes it with some spring onion, and sprouts and Thai basil (plus sriracha and hoisin) on the side.

Shop 3, 100 Creek Street (in Gresham Lane), Brisbane, emsaigon.com.au

Tantanmen at Men Ya Go

You’ll find Men Ya Go parked down Albert Lane in the CBD. There, it produces some of the best ramen in town.

Arguably its best bowl, though, is a brilliant spin on a tantanmen, which itself is a Japanese take on Sichuan dan dan noodles.

Traditionally, tantanmen features minced pork atop a creamy, spicy sesame-and-chilli broth. But Men Ya Go owner Ikuyo Murata instead opts for chicken mince, the intention being to give the dish a lighter, cleaner finish.

The miso-based broth itself is slow cooked with a high-quality sweet bean paste, sesame oil and the shop’s own tare (seasoning). And as you eat the noodles, the chicken slowly breaks up into the soup, meaning every spoonful is a little different to the last.

All the bowls at Men Ya Go manage the neat trick of being full of flavour but restrained, but the tantanmen nails it the best – the richness of its spicy broth is balanced by the sweetness of the chicken to create something that’s luscious but not too heavy.

Shop 4, 123 Albert Street, Brisbane, menyago.com.au

Red tonkotsu ramen at Taro’s Ramen

Still the yardstick by which all other Brisbane tonkotsu ramen is measured, it was 2010 when Taro Akimoto first turned his back on a job in international trading to create Taro’s Ramen in the CBD. Sixteen years later, the digs have moved a couple of doors down to 480 Queen but the ramen, if not exactly the same, is just as sought after.

Truth is, Akimoto is always slowly evolving his recipe. These days he pressure-cooks his broth for five hours before topping it with house-made noodles, Forage Farms eggs and Bangalow pork that’s been koji-marinated, sous vide and then charred.

Of the three variations of Taro’s tonkotsu, the “red” is arguably the best, with enough spice to enliven the afternoon without sending you dashing for the restroom.

Order with a side of curried karaage, and a Suntory Premium Malts if you have the afternoon off.

L2/480 Queen Street, Brisbane, taros.com.au

Brisket noodle soup at 1919 Lanzhou Beef Noodle

Take all the toppings. That’s the secret to rounding out this brilliant bowl of Chinese noodle soup that’s available in the Queens Plaza food court.

1919 Lanzhou Beef Noodle kicked off in Sydney in 2018 and soon had diners queueing for its take on Lanzhou beef noodle soup. This soul-warming dish has its origins in China’s Gansu province (how far back seems to be open to interpretation) and didn’t settle into something resembling its current form until it was popularised by a chef named Ma Baozi in 1915.

From a street stall Ma pioneered the dish’s “five-colour standard” – a clear broth, white daikon radish, yellow wheat noodles, red chilli oil, and green coriander and garlic sprouts – moving into a bricks-and-mortar in 1919.

1919 Lanzhou Beef Noodle captures the nourishing nature of Ma’s creation. The depth of flavour in this bowl just goes on and on, courtesy of more than 20 types of aromatics the chefs toss in the broth, which include galangal, cinnamon, anise, bay leaf, cardamom, nutmeg, kaempferol and grass fruit.

All you need to do is pick your style of beef (we prefer braised), thickness of noodle (they’ll then be pulled in front of you), and choose your toppings from coriander, chilli and leek. But, as discussed, you’re already taking all three.

The perfect winter soup.

Shop 10 Lower Ground Food Court, 226 Queen Street, Brisbane, 1919lanzhoubeefnoodle.com.au

Curry laksa at Roti Place

There’s not a stack of laksa options in the Brisbane CBD – you tend to need to go further out to your Uncle Lais and Ya Hoo Dinings of this world to get the really good stuff – but this warm Malaysian hug of a bowl at Roti Place will more than do for a lunchtime option.

It’s velvet smooth and the house-made laksa paste gives it a distinctive flavour profile. Also, it’s huge and comes stacked high with chicken, prawns, squid, fish cake, fried tofu puffs and green beans.

The digs themselves, in a heritage-listed painted warehouse, are a fun light-filled place for lunch also.

42 Charlotte Street, Brisbane, rotiplace.com.au

Thai boat noodles at SayHi Thai Noodle Bar

This brilliant noodle spot hides in a car park down a laneway on Charlotte Street. Look for the Genki Mart and the red sign reading “Japanese Groceries” and you’re in the right place. But instead of turning left back into the grocery store you’re heading straight ahead for Wiyada Korte’s little shack that could, which is serving an extensive menu of Thai noodles.

There’s an almost endless array of options here: you pick your protein – chicken, pork, beef, tofu, vegetables or squid – and then match it to soup or style, such as tom yum, spicy and sour, or tum sen lek. Finally, there’s the usual array of noodle options: vermicelli, rice, flat, egg and so on.

Still, SayHi specialises in a Thai boat noodles, the popular noodle soup defined by its dark, heavily spiced broth. SayHi’s is darker than dark and is packed full of cinnamon and anise, lending it a depth of flavour that’s hard to find around town.

This place can get busy at lunch. If it’s too hectic, try Doodee Boran just down Charlotte Street. Its boat noodles are just as good.

123 Charlotte Street, Brisbane, instagram.com/sayhi_buree

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