Chinese Noodles ROKU

Duck stock from a fine-dining hand

Duck stock takes the lead before the noodles reach the bowl; Yuji Iwasaki, owner-chef of VELROSIER, founded Chinese Noodles ROKU in Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto, as his counter for Chinese noodle soup. The shop opened on December 12, 2020, on the 2nd floor of GOOD NATURE STATION, close to Kawaramachi Station, and it keeps the work near the restaurant where Iwasaki built his Kyoto reputation. VELROSIER began in Ashiya in 2014, moved to Kyoto in 2019, and rose to Two MICHELIN Stars in the 2023 Kyoto Osaka Guide. ROKU takes a different station: not a long meal, not a sequence of plated reconstructions, but a bowl held to the same discipline of extraction, seasoning, and finish.

Iwasaki started Chinese cuisine at age 18 and has described his method at VELROSIER as disassembly and reconstruction. At ROKU, that thinking contracts into broth, tare, oil, noodle, and topping. The lineage is not written through a named mentor here; it runs through hotel Chinese cooking, dim sum technique, and the duck preparations that connect ROKU to VELROSIER. The Bib Gourmand belongs to this noodle shop, with 3 awards recorded for the venue and 1 in the current year.

Broth built in layers

The menu stays narrow enough for the pot to matter. ROKU works with stocks drawn from duck, chicken, venison, and pork, then adds dried foods such as longan fruit for umami and a Chinese medicinal note. The duck broth Chinese soba, often referred to through kamodashi, carries duck stock and confit oil into the bowl; the white chicken broth ramen moves in a creamier register; the Sichuan pepper ramen uses numbing spice as a line, not a wall. A 110g noodle portion gives the broth room to lead.

The add-ons are not decoration. Homemade wontons come in 3- or 5-piece sets, a small sign of Iwasaki's dim sum training placed after the noodles rather than apart from them. Duck eggs, truffle oil, porcini mushroom paste, bean sprouts, and extra toppings shift weight and aroma without turning the bowl into a catalogue. The ordering machine keeps the exchange brief, but the cooking itself is not simplified. Soup sells out when the day’s work is gone.

Twelve seats around the pot

The room is compact, with 12 bar-style seats and the counter as the main vantage point. A serene tree sits inside the modern Japanese space, softening the edges of a shop built for bowls, steam, and quick movement. The aromas arrive before the food does: duck fat, chicken broth, soy, pepper, the darker sweetness of dried ingredients. Conversation stays low because the bowl takes attention.

ROKU’s location inside GOOD NATURE STATION makes it part of a multi-tenant building, but the feeling at the counter is more bench-side than food hall. Guests sit close to the pass, close to the ladle, close to the finishing oil. The last spoonful still tastes of duck broth Chinese soba.