The story below is a preview from our May/June 2025 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!
Crave-worthy Japanese ramen and Chinese noodles share top billing at this Cave Spring slurp shop.
John Park
There’s something undeniably smile-inducing about a bowl of brothy noodles. It’s happened every time I’ve visited Noodle Factory, whether for solo rainy day ramen, an impromptu family lunch at the counter or a full-out feast with a friend where there’s scarcely enough table real estate to contain all the plastic bowls and paper boats, let alone our giddy gustatory enjoyment. Whether you’re seeking comforting tonkotsu, a cure-all shoyu broth or a transportive bowl of braised beef, Noodle Factory delivers soul-satisfying Japanese-inspired ramen and Chinese noodle dishes in a spare yet inviting shop in Cave Spring.
My favorite dish is the Spicy Shoyu Ramen, which gets its deep, nuanced savory flavor from four kinds of soy sauce: dark, light, kombu and Chinese. Think of the broth as chicken soup on steroids, a sort of Japanese-Chinese penicillin, if you will. I could drink a whole bowl of just the liquid elixir, but the medley of toppings, including a pitch-perfect ramen egg with a jammy yolk, char siu pork belly, spring onions and narutomaki (fish cake), work in concert to alternately augment and offset the richness of the broth. (Despite its moniker, the spice level is moderate but there’s also a non-spicy option.) The shoyu broth also serves as an alternative but equally savory base for the vegan ramen, which comes standard with a miso broth bolstered by dried Chinese mushroom powder.
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John Park
A line-up of favorite dishes includes tonkosu and shoyu ramen, red-raised beef noodle, bao with crispy chicken and char siu pork belly, chicken katsu curry over rice and garlic shishito peppers
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John Park
Counter seats are ideal for parties of one or two and offer a view of the open kitchen.
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John Park
The fan-favorite shoyu gets its savory depth from four types of soy sauce.
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John Park
Chef-owner Heng Zhang works the line in his open kitchen.
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Chinese-style shishito peppers pack a savory punch and are great for sharing.
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John Park
Noodle Factory chef-owner Heng Zhang (right) and his wife, Jing Xu.
Noodle Factory’s owner, Heng Zhang, says that first-time ramen diners either opt for shoyu or tonkotsu, crafted with a creamy, pork-based broth. If you’ve sampled tonkotsu before, Noodle Factory’s version veers from tradition but it still vies for top-seller status here. Zhang achieves a robust pork flavor by simmering baby back ribs and pork bones for eight to nine hours until they’re soft and fall-apart tender, then blending it three times for a cohesive, creamy consistency. Zhang skims the oil from the broth, then blends this liquid gold with black garlic, deep-fried until flirting between crisp and burnt, to make a heady black garlic oil, a small portion of which is ladled into the tonkotsu prior to serving. It gives the dish a certain je ne sais quoi factor that keeps you eagerly slurping to determine the source of the flavor.
Zhang first had the idea to open a noodle-centric restaurant eight years ago, after a transformative experience at a Chicago ramen shop that offered traditional Japanese ramen and original noodle dishes featuring a variety of handmade noodles and deeply flavorful broths.
Back in Roanoke, he shelved the idea while continuing to work at his family’s restaurant, Café Asia and later Café Asia 2, where he gained formative experience working as a chef, server and bartender before working his way up to supervisor and manager. Zhang started to entertain the idea of opening his own noodle shop again in the post COVID restaurant landscape and once he and his wife, Jing Xu, had started a family. By the time their daughter was eight years old and their son two, Zhang was ready to take a leap of faith and open Noodle Factory.
Want to learn more about how Noodle Factory crafts its soul-satisfying ramen and Chinese noodle dishes that keep Roanoke diners slurping with joy? Check out the latest issue, now on newsstands, or see it for free in our digital guide linked below!
The story above is a preview from our May/June 2025 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!