Where to find Stockholm’s best ramen

The ramen craze has reached the far north. There’s nothing like a frigid Stockholm winter to create a craving for the steaming hot bowl of salty goodness that is ramen.

While Stockholm may seem like an unlikely place to enjoy authentic Japanese cuisine, the locals have taken a strong liking to this delicious noodle dish – and trust us when we say that they’re not messing around.

Bury those sad memories of college cup-noodles and let these Stockholm hangouts show you the right way around a ramen bowl.

The best ramen spots in the Swedish capital are the ones that take the time to hone in all aspects of the ramen experience.

You can judge the quality of a bowl by three key factors: the broth, the noodles, and the toppings. These three ramen shops have it all dialled in: they hit those salty, sweet Japanese flavours while maintaining ultimate freshness.

Café Stiernan

Gamla Stan, the medieval heart of Stockholm, may seem like an unlikely place for a ramen shop, but it’s home to one of the best.

Café Stiernan is run by a sweet Swedish couple who have been serving ramen since it was still just called ‘noodle soup’ in Sweden. They’ve worked hard to stick to traditional Japanese recipes while also catering to Swedish tastes, and even serve Swedish coffee and desserts alongside their prime ramen options. Seem like a strange combination? Think again, because they are doing it right.

Café Stiernan offers up the top three Japanese ramen flavors – shio (salt), shoyu (soy sauce), and miso (awase soy bean paste). The tasty ramen broth is made from scratch, cooked for hours in huge pots, and constantly watched.

They make a special chicken-based broth that’s insanely flavourful, while remaining lighter and healthier than the usual pork base. In addition to the classic soft-boiled egg and slow-cooked charsiu pork toppings, they also have shrimp, chicken and vegetable toppings. In the winter, come early because this little gem gets busy during lunch hours and the shio ramen tends to run out by dinnertime.

Café Stiernan
Österlånggatan 45
Gamla Stan

No website
Mon-Fri 11am–7pm; Sat noon–5pm; Sun noon–4pm

Totemo Ramen

Totemo means ‘very’ in Japanese, and the ramen here is VERY awesome. Totemo Ramen opened in 2016 and is located just north of Sankt Eriksbron in Vasastan (you can walk there from the main train station in around 20 minutes).

The owners are ramen addicts that have traveled all over Japan to perfect their recipe. They opened this lunch spot to share their delicious research with the rest of Stockholm.

The menu here is simple and to the point, in true Japanese fashion. They offer shoyu ramen, spicy miso ramen and a unique vegetarian miso broth, all with a wide range of delicious organic toppings, including pickled ginger and ajitsuke (marinated) soft-boiled eggs.

Everything is organic and delicious, but the main reason to visit Totemo Ramen is for the handcrafted noodles! They’re so fresh that you can watch as they boil them for each individual bowl. They are perfectly thick, slightly chewy, and absorb the flavour from the broth in each bite. Ask for kaedama when you’ve finished your first helping for a hefty refill of these fantastic noodles.

Totemo Ramen 
Sankt Eriksgatan 70
Vasastan

totemoramen.com
Mon–Fri 11am–2pm, Sat 12pm–3pm

Ai Ramen

Located in Södermalm, Ai Ramen is spacious and airy with plenty of seating and generous opening hours – it’s definitely the most accessible of the ramen bars on this list.

Ai Ramen also crafts its noodles in house and staff understand the Japanese sentiment that ramen is best enjoyed with a cold beer. They even offer Asahi on draft, plus two varieties of the Japanese craft Hitachino Nest Beer.

The lunch and dinner menus at Ai Ramen offers shoyu, miso, and special Tokyo tonkotsu pork ramen, all simmered for a whopping 18 hours. They also offer donburi (rice bowls) for those who want to avoid gluten.

During dinner there are also many tasty side dishes to choose from. What sets Ai Ramen apart from other ramen joints in Stockholm is its incredible charsiu pork topping. This charsiu is salty and sweet, unbelievably tender, and melts in your mouth like butter – the way only true ramen charsiu can. Ai Ramen, you did it.

Ai Ramen
Erstagatan 22
Södermalm

airamen.se
Mon–Thurs 11.30am–2.30pm & 5pm-9pm; Fri 11.30am–2.30pm & 5pm–10pm; Sat noon–10pm; Sun noon–9pm

Map of the best ramen places in Stockholm