Nothing is more comforting during those drizzly grey winter days than a warm bowl of soup. However, I’ve always had sort of a hard time locating a decent soup spot. Thankfully this year, food writer Nancy Leson has done the dirty work for me and compiled a thorough list of the finest places in and around Seattle to slurp soup.

Haute Soup:

Le Gourmand is well known for its local flavors and seasonal ingredients. The nettle soup is an absolute favorite of many restaurant goers. Also, visit Bisato and order the puree of butternut squash over steelhead gravlax, topped with kabocha squash, smoked paprika quenelle, amaretti crumbles and Calabrese-style sausage. 

Chinese noodle house:

On 12th and Jackson lies Hue Ky Mi Gia, a chinese noodle house that serves a great egg noodle soup with tender braised duck that falls of the bone and melts in your mouth. 

Yum, Ramen!

On King street is Fu Lin, a ramen house that serves a mean bowl of hot tonkotsu charsiu. It’s equipped with chunks of pork and you can accessorize your soup as you want. It’s great with bamboo shoots, mushrooms, noodles, and a whole hard boiled egg. Watch out though, ramen packs a mean calorie punch. You may not need anymore soup to warm you for the winter as you’ve put on enough pounds after a single bowl.

It's Pho-reezing outside!

One of my favorite soups in the winter is Pho. Pho restaurants in Seattle are a dime a dozen, which makes it hard to separate the quality restaurants from the less remarkable ones. Don’t risk it and head over to Ballard and try Monkey Bridge. The place is often crowded so pick a good time to stop by. It’s more upscale than most Pho restaurants but the sinus-clearing soup is worth the trip.