Today we wanted to take the time to highlight two New York restaurants that we got a chance to try recently, which we both really enjoyed!  There’s two commonalities between these places:  first, you can find them both in the West Village, less than a mile from each other; and second, they both serve up some excellent noodle soups from two different Asian cuisines.  We were especially delighted to find that these two spots offer up vegetarian and vegan options, which is nice because often these particular dishes are made with meat-based stocks and broths.  So read on to see where you can get some  excellent, hearty noodle soups – but just be warned that we will show some images of meat here.

The first place we decided to check out was BòCàPhê, a Vietnamese spot with one location in the West Village (which is where we went) and another in Chelsea.  We started our meal there with these veggie summer rolls, made from scallions, radish, cilantro, basil and sweet potatoes wrapped in a rice paper roll, with peanut sauce on the side.

Miriam was the one who got some noodle soup – a classic Vietnamese phò, which BòCàPhê makes in a vegan version with lots of veggies, herbs, and noodles.  You have the option to add in dumplings to your phò, so there’s also some vegetable dumplings floating in there.

Meanwhile, Cyril had one of the specials that day:  cà ri gà, a yellow curry made with chicken, potatoes, and vegetables, with some tumeric tandoori rice on the side.

Now if you’d like to try a different type of noodle soup, you can head 3/4 of a mile west to Ramen Danbo, a chain the originated in Japan and now has 30 restaurants across Asia, Australia, Canada, and the U.S. (including a second New York location in Park Slope).  The menu is very simple:  there’s ramen that you can customize with a bunch of different ingredients, plus a few sides.  Here’s what Miriam got:  the negi-goma atsuage ramen, made with noodles, scallions, sesame seeds, and slices of fried tofu in a vegan broth dotted with sesame oil.

Cyril had their classic rekka ramen, with noodles, scallions, and slices of pork belly in a tonkatsu pork broth, plus he added in some soft boiled eggs.

And we also split an order of pan-fried vegetable gyoza.

It was great for both of us to be able to get some ramen and some phò, in both vegan and traditional, meat-based forms.  Since it’s been a pretty chilly April, we thoroughly enjoyed these warm noodle soups, as well as all the other food we got to try at BòCàPhê and Ramen Danbo.  These two places have pretty simple menus, but they make their specialties well so can leave feeling completely satisfied with your phò and ramen.  We hope you try these places out, and check back later to see some other recommendations we have for eating out in New York (and elsewhere)!