Kanada-Ya London was the destination for a warming bowl of tonkotsu ramen after work on a cold February evening. This Roberts London archive film, first published on 13 February 2015, records the small St Giles restaurant, its busy kitchen and the queue outside.

The walk begins with a simple craving: something hot and comforting after a long winter day. Barry mentions Wagamama, then explains why he is heading somewhere smaller. He wants to show a different kind of ramen bar, with a compact dining room and a menu centred on pork-bone broth.

This is an account of the 2015 visit. The queue, menu choices and service described below belong to that evening and Barry’s experiences at the time.

A winter walk to Kanada-Ya London

Wrapped up against the cold, Barry walks towards St Giles, near Tottenham Court Road and a short walk from Soho. In the film, he says the London restaurant opened the previous September. He describes it as a small, homely place with around twenty seats.

The scale matters. This is a restaurant where you can see people eating through the window while waiting to join them. From the pavement, the kitchen is part of the spectacle too: the promise of hot food is visible before a seat becomes free.

The queue and the small dining room

Barry recalls waits of about twenty to thirty minutes on his earlier visits, adding that he has always come alone. A smaller group, he suggests, is easier to squeeze into the room. These are his observations from 2015, rather than a promise about waiting times today.

Heaters help the people outside, and staff check group sizes and hand out menus. Once inside, he finds service quick. His description neatly captures the rhythm of the evening: much of the waiting happens before sitting down.

The camera briefly catches a chef behind the counter and the dining room at close quarters. There is little distance between the work of preparing ramen and the people there to eat it.

Pork-bone broth, chashu and hard noodles

The menu described in the film revolves around rich, creamy pork-bone broth. Barry says it is prepared for more than eighteen hours and mentions its bubbly surface, comparing its appearance to a cappuccino. Those details come from his account during the visit.

His choice is chashu-men ramen, with sweet slices of pork collar. Wood ear mushrooms, spring onions and crisp nori add different textures around the noodles and broth. He also adds a soft-boiled egg.

Noodle firmness is another decision. Barry lists extra hard, hard, regular and soft, then chooses hard. When he tastes the bowl, he likes both the noodles and the broth, and singles out the pork as delicious.

Green tea and a rice ball

The meal includes an original rice ball. Barry also mentions alternatives with flaked salmon or Japanese pickled sour plum, although those are not the versions he orders.

Beer is available, and a honey beer catches his attention. However, the cold evening settles the choice: he has hot green tea instead. The little white pot and cup sit beside the ramen, making this a meal built around warmth as much as appetite.

A lesson in slurping

The visit becomes more sociable when neighbouring diners encourage Barry to make some noise while eating his noodles. He gives slurping a try, then jokes that it still needs practice.

Afterwards, he explains that the group helped with both his slurping and his Japanese pronunciation. They also discussed whether Kanada-Ya or Bone Daddies made the better ramen. They could not agree, leaving him with another restaurant to try.

Outside again, Barry recommends the meal. The dining room and menu may be simple, but his verdict on the food is enthusiastic. The film preserves that small winter pleasure: finishing work, walking through London and finding a hot bowl of ramen worth talking about.

Watch the original Kanada-Ya London film

Watch the full visit below for the walk, the bowl being eaten and the conversation at the next table. For another nearby archive visit, see the Roberts London walk around St Giles and Denmark Street in 2015.

Archive note: first published on YouTube on 13 February 2015. Shops, menus and arrangements shown belong to the original visit.