Variations on a theme. Country to country. Culture to culture. The theme is comfort and the variation is soup. Soup and sarnies? It was only when I started pondering S is for Soup that I realised the combo/formule/meal-deal is ubiquitous. This is certainly not a revelation: soup and bread in winter, groundbreaking! But the instant comfort of a liquified meal is all-pervasive (not to be mistaken for a liquid lunch, which provides a different type of comfort altogether).
In England, soup serves a purpose, it is a comfort blanket, a quick snack, or the late supper (souper) on a Sunday when you eat your roast lunch at 4pm and aren’t hungry enough for a full meal. Visit a supermarket in the UK and you’ll notice its everywhereness. At least one full side of an aisle will be stacked with tinned soup; leek and potato, butternut squash, cream of chicken, cream of mushroom, cream of vegetable. Heinz is the ruler of this metallic kingdom, as their cream of tomato is known to have magical healing powers.
When I was at school and feeling unwell, whether that was a cold, my period, general melancholy, or laziness, I would find my matron before formal lunch started and feign a serious malady. She would send me off to bed for the lunch hour to rest and recup and she would then arrive with the tray of dreams. A bowl of Heinz tomato soup, two slices of shitty white bread - thickly buttered, and usually a glass of flat ginger ale (another miracle cure). This lunch was such a treat and it really did seem to fix the fake malaise that I had. Tomato soup has a motherly quality, coupled with the knowledge that I was missing a forced social encounter with teachers who were uninteresting and uninterested over a plate of Chicken à la King, these lunches in bed were my personal nirvana.
In France, soup is thin on the ground.* Yes, you can find a soupe à l’oignon or a velouté, but the supermarket staple is just less of a thing. Perhaps, the French aversion to meals on the go, and penchant for sitting down to a “proper” meal means that the humble tin of soup has no place in Carrefour. One must venture elsewhere to find a soup fix in the City of Lights.
This would not be a soup special if I didn’t mention the classic French Onion but for control measures, I have been soup scouting for the last month.
Depending on your mood, your demands on a restaurant will certainly differ and so I thought to attempt to categorise these soups into mood dependency. The problem with this Soupey-decimal system was that all of my categories fell under poorly or hungover, so with no rank in mind, here are some great soups.
For Ramen
Situated in a charming passage near Opera, next to the infamous Racines, Zenya is simply a very good bowl of ramen with very friendly staff. So if you find yourself hungry in central Paris and don’t fancy a vitello tonato from the Italian next door, this ramen is a good alternative.
Passage des Panoramas, 75002
Ippudo Ramen has three outposts, which means that is a horribly large chain in French standards. But this doesn’t deflect away from the perfect Ajitsuke Tamago (or Ramen eggs) that they have on offer. Always order an extra one, as you’ll be sad after scoffing the first too quickly.
Louvre, Saint-Germain, Republique
Kodawari is famous for its decoration more than it is famous for its ramen but the interiors are worth a stop by. It is modelled on a Japanese fishmarket, from the rickety wooden stools to the boney stench in the air. This would not be a good hangover destination.
Rue Mazarine, Rue de Richelieu
A special mention goes to a soup that is now impossible to get a hold of — Esu Lee’s hangover soup. I had the pleasure of ordering and devouring this soup when chef Lee did his pop-up at Early June. Served in a ShinCup, his chicken bone broth with nostalgic noodles and lucky-dip pockets of spicy sauce made this one of the best noodle dishes I’ve ever eaten.
For Pho
In Belleville, Pho is a dime a dozen and I would most likely recommend that you travel to the 13th to find the best of the best but there are still some real winners.
Pho Belleville - original name and simple concept. They make pho in Belleville. Avoid the satay pho if you’re wearing light clothing as it is deathly staining.
Boulevard de la Villette
I have on good authority from a friend that the best Pho comes from Dong Huong. I walk or bike past almost every day and it is never without steamy windows from the busy clientele slurping their soup. Google calls it a “long-running, casual locale dolling out Vietnamese staples” which I think is one of the most voluble Google descriptions I’ve read.
Rue Louis Bonnet
For Chinese Soup
If you peer past the queue and into the window of Miam Guan, you’ll see busy hands pulling lengths and lengths of homemade noodles, stringing them across washing lines, ready to dunk into fresh, boiling broth. The noodles here are the reason to come, hand-pulled, chewy and dense. A greedily huge portion of noodle soup costs about 6eu and will last at least two meals if you can slosh it home in a takeaway box.
Rue de Belleville
Lim Sept is parked next to a billiards bar and I think that they get many a drunken ringer coming in after a defeat. They make an illegally spicy chilli oil, so spicy that the last time I ate there, the couple sitting opposite my friend and I offered a word of warning as they saw us eyeing it up. The warning was ignored and made the Chaoshou soup into a battleground but it’s fierceness always provokes a nice conversation with the owner after the meal. Was it too spicy? No, it was great! Okay, next time we’ll make it more spicy for you.
Rue Jules Romains
For French Onion Soup
I love soupe à l’oignon as much as the next person and I have eaten a lot of it, but I still, for one, cannot tell the difference between a cheap and expensive version. Therefore, I’d be remiss to recommend the fanciest French onion and instead, always suggest the 3,80eu bowl from Bouillon. It has the broth, it has the bread, the salt and the cheese. It really is all you need.
Bouillon Pigalle/ Bouillon Republique
*Author’s note: After writing this passage about soup not existing in Carrefour, Erin and I went to shop for our dinner. Spurred on by wisdom tooth pain, Erin searched out some soup and alas, we found the aisle. Packaged in cartons rather than tins, Erin said there is something much more appealing about canned soup, but we couldn’t seem to work out what that was.
Shopping List for you
Sally Rooney on Ulysses and misreading the novel made me feel like I was at university again (read: clever)
An oh so British Heinz moment from the depths of an Instagram scroll
@sssssoupsssss Instagram
Queen Elizabeth David’s Rice and Courgette Gratin - bon app!
Musée Picasso exhibition about Picasso and his daughter, showing the evolution of his art from entertaining Maya to entertaining the rest of us.
S is for Synonym
I love it! HTS most certainly has magical healing properties. I have always known it. Bit disappointed that splodge didn’t get a mench! Xx Mama Bear