Five to try: best restaurants for noodles

Pho, 3 Great Titchfield Street, W1 (020 7436 0111) £16
Travelling in Vietnam, Juliette and Stephen Wall encountered pho (pronounced like — maybe derived from — the French feu). This sustaining, usually beef-based noodle soup, often described as "Vietnam in a bowl", is at the heart of their restaurant venture. The joy of pho is customising your own bowl with fresh herbs and spicy sauces.

The Stockpot, 273 King's Road, SW3 (020 782 3175) £13
The first Stockpot opened 50 years ago. What became a small group valiantly nourishes students, tourists and anyone watching their pennies with a range of dishes that includes many pasta assemblies. I remember with affection the spaghetti Bolognese I ate long before I ever visited Italy and starting meals with corn-on-the-cob when it seemed as exotic as that green hand grenade, the avocado. Other branches are in Panton Street and Old Compton Street.

Café de HK, 47-49 Charing Cross Road, WC2 (020 7534 9888) £12
The cheap cafés of Chinatown arguably provide a fairly authentic Chinese experience. Popular with Asian students, staff are too busy to work out or care what it is that Westerners want. The Hong Kong influence here means the range of dishes is wide and inclusive, so much so that there is a Chinese version of borscht and one of spag bol. The hawker soup noodle option gives you noodles, sauce and a choice of three toppings for about £6.

Ramen Seto, 19 Kingly Street, W1 (020 7434 0309) £15
A Taiwanese friend recommended the freshness of the gyoza dough at this simple Japanese restaurant appreciated by students. If you saw the movie Tampopo, "the first noodle Western", you will understand the importance of ramen — noodles in broth — in Japanese life. A plate of gyoza and then a steaming bowl of ramen garnished in one of several ways provides a sustaining, healthy, brisk meal.

Kiasu, 48 Queensway, W2 (020 7727 8810) £16
The only restaurant to open in what I predicted would be the Year of Malaysian Food (2007) that gave any credence to the claim was Kiasu. In Hokkien dialect it means "fear of being second best". Website critics fresh from trying Singaporean hawker stalls (allegedly) have some reservations, but I think the food is first-rate. Char kway teow, wok-fried wide rice noodles with prawn, egg, Chinese sausage and beansprouts, is deeply, satisfyingly savoury. Ko lo mee, braised egg noodles in spicy sauce with cha siu and wonton soup, is another hit.

Prices estimate starter, noodle dish and a drink for one