Oodles and oodles of great Asian soup noodles

If there's a single dish that defines comfort food for this restaurant critic, it's Asian soup noodles. Lucky me: The options around here are endless.

It was here that I tasted my first pho — marveling at the scent of star anise and Vietnamese basil. Here that I learned to love Korean buckwheat noodles in a refreshingly icy broth; spicy-hot Sichuan noodle soup with pickled cabbage; and ropy udon with fish cake, enoki mushrooms and dashi. Raised in a household where "Jewish penicillin" (aka chicken soup) with lokshen (egg noodles) was the cure-all, is it any wonder that I'm a soup-noodle junkie, happiest when facing a broad bowl with a pair of chopsticks in one hand and a soup spoon in the other?

Among the dozens of spots you'll find me slurping are these:

Hing Loon

628 S. Weller St., Seattle; 206-682-2828.

Hours: 10 a.m.-1 a.m. Sundays-Thursdays, 10 a.m.-2 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

Hing Loon's aromatic chicken broth with dumplings and egg noodles ($3.95) is my idea of the perfect (late) breakfast when lily-gilded with a Chinese doughnut for dipping (bless the women who run this place for opening at 10 a.m.). It's offered me a quick lunch in the middle of a busy workday and been the beacon that welcomes me "home" late at night, after I've spent too many hours stuck on an airplane, grouchy and hungry.

Yes, those handwritten specials papering the walls at this Chinatown International District cafe make me long for more of what this Chinese stalwart has to offer (like the incomparable smoked duck, $11.95). But it's hard to resist that soup. Or the urge to ask for an extra helping of those glorious gossamer dumplings ($1.75) stuffed with shrimp, ground pork and black mushrooms.

Kirirom

19417 36th Ave. W., Lynnwood; 425-672-7560.

Hours: 10 a.m.-9:30 p.m. daily.

Attention, bargain shoppers! This Cambodian bakery and cafe just east of the Lynnwood Convention Center is a must-stop on the cheap-eats circuit, thanks to a kitchen that crosses culinary borders with detours to China, Thailand and Vietnam, and a menu that extends to nearly 100 dishes: average price, 7 bucks.

So why can't I bring myself to sit and savor anything other than the Crispy Chicken Egg Noodle ($5.95)? Because it has a leg up — literally — on the classic Chinese chicken soup I always crave. Here, thin egg noodles nest in a mild chicken broth punctuated with bits of fried garlic, pickled cabbage, scallions, cilantro and bok choy.

On the side: a haunch of fried chicken — both drumstick and thigh — plus plum sauce for dipping. Other little "extras" worth a quick detour off I-5? Exceptionally kind service and fabulously frothy avocado smoothies. Bahn mi sandwiches on housemade baguette are the perfect to-go food, as well. My favorite's made with garlicky lemongrass-infused short-ribs ($3.85).

Old Village BBQ Bistro

15200 Aurora Ave. N., Shoreline; 206-365-6679.

Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. daily.

Under new ownership, Shoreline's long-lived Old Village has become a new village, with a spiffy interior makeover that better reflects the "Bistro" in its name. Others come for the coal-fueled tabletop barbecue. I come to slurp housemade buckwheat noodles while listening to '80s disco music.

Those noodles are the main event in the summery cold-noodle soup called naeng myun ($8.95 lunch/$9.95 dinner). Its long slender strands of chewy noodles float in a cool broth that teeters on the edge of sweet. Servers, brandishing scissors, cut the noodles into manageable lengths, and you can fish around the big bowl for crunchy Asian pear, cucumber half-moons and daikon radish, plus hard-boiled egg and beef brisket.

If there's no mustard on the table, ask for it and add a squirt or three. And if you come for lunch, have the cold noodle combo that pairs naeng myun with a sizzling platter of excellent kalbi ribs ($13.95).

Samurai Noodle

606 Fifth Ave. S., Seattle; 206-624-9321.

Hours: 10 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Sundays-Wednesdays, 10 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays.

This rockin' little ramen shop in Uwajimaya Village is doing its best to approximate something you'd find in Japan. With only 18 seats at a handful of tables, expect a wait.

Call ahead for takeout if you like, or do as I do: Arrive well before the noon hour or long after.

At Samurai, "Noodle" is their name, and the ramen ($5.95-$7.50) puts up a proper fight when you bite, but here it's all about the broth. I'm crazy about the porcine perfume of the tonkotsu (a richer-than-rich pork broth), though you may prefer the more delicate shouyu (made with chicken), tounyu (soy and seaweed) or tsukemen (fish broth).

The alchemists in the cramped kitchen garnish your egg noodles using an arsenal of tastes and textures, including but not limited to roast pork, crisp nori, marinated bamboo shoots, black mushrooms, spicy roe and green onion.

My addiction? The $9 Samurai Armour Bowl, with its double dose of juicy roast pork, hard-boiled "flavored egg" and other I-can't-believe-I-ate-the-whole-things. Try it for lunch, and you won't need dinner.

Coming soon: A second location in the U District.

Wild Ginger

1401 Third Ave., Seattle; 206-623-4450; www.wildginger.net.

Hours: lunch 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays, dinner 5-11 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays, 5 p.m.-midnight Fridays, 4:30 p.m.-midnight Saturdays.

It's been nearly 20 years since I first took chopsticks and soup spoon to Wild Ginger's laksa. Back then I was a frequent visitor to the original restaurant on Western Avenue, where this Malaysian inspiration — as well as a skewer or two of Bangkok boar from the satay bar — was my standing order.

I don't get to the Ginger as much as I used to, yet on a recent visit to the place that started Seattle's pan-Asian craze, I relished, once again, the joys of laksa, available in bowls large ($10.25) and small ($6.50). Fresh coconut milk enriches the broth, fueled with chilies and turmeric and crunchy with slivered cucumber and bean sprouts. Digging deep, I found thin rice noodles supporting lots of carefully cooked seafood: tender fillets of salmon, plump shrimp, sea scallops and mussels steamed in their ebony shells.

Nancy Leson: 206-464-8838 or nleson@seattletimes.com. More reviews at www.seattletimes.com/restaurants