''Ramen Teh'' (), also known as ''Ramen Shop'' (or in Japanese, 家族のレシピ, Kazoku no Recipe, Family Recipe), is a Singaporean-Japanese-French film. The film is directed by

Eric Khoo use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , resting_place = , nationality = Singaporean , alma_mater = Uni ...

, and stars

Takumi Saito is a Japanese actor and filmmaker. He directs films under his birthname, , spelled differently in Kanji but pronounced the same. Early life and work Saitoh was born on August 22, 1981, in Minato, Tokyo. Saitoh's father worked in the film in ...

Jeanette Aw Jeanette Aw Ee-Ping (born 28 June 1979), better known by her stage name Ou Xuan (), is a Singaporean actress, filmmaker, businesswoman and writer. Aw was named as one of the Seven Princesses of Mediacorp in 2006, after which she achieved wide ...

Seiko Matsuda , known professionally as , is a Japanese pop singer and songwriter, known for being one of the most popular Japanese idols of the 1980s. Since then, she is still actively releasing new singles and albums, doing annual summer concert tours, win ...

, Mark Lee,

Tsuyoshi Ihara is a Japanese actor, martial artist, and writer of Korean descent. Biography Ihara is a Japanese person of Korean descent, born on November 6, 1963, in Kitakyūshū as Yun Yu-gu (윤유구/尹惟久) and who grew up in Ikuno-ku, Osaka. He is a ...

Tetsuya Bessho is a Japanese actor and radio presenter. Since 2014, he hosted the Miss International pageant. Filmography Films * '' Solar Crisis'' (1990), Ken Minami * ''Godzilla vs. Mothra'' (1992), Takuya Fujita * ''Parasite Eve'' (1997), Yoshizumi Takat ...

, and Beatrice Chien. ''Ramen Teh'' had its world premiere at the

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

in February 2018 and was released in Singapore on 29 March 2018.

Premise

Masato is a young

ramen is a Japanese dish, Japanese noodle dish. It consists of served in a broth; common flavors are soy sauce and miso, with typical toppings including , nori (dried seaweed), menma (bamboo shoots), and scallions. Ramen has its roots in Chinese ...

chef in the city of

Takasaki is a city located in Gunma Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 372,369 in 167,345 households, and a population density of 810 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Takasaki is famous as the hometown of th ...

in Japan. After the sudden death of his emotionally distant father, he chances upon a suitcase of memorabilia and a red notebook – filled with musings and old photos – left behind by his Singaporean mother who died when he was just ten years old. Acting on a hunch, he takes off for Singapore with the notebook, hoping to piece together the story of his life, as well as that of his parents. There he meets Miki, a Japanese food blogger and single mother who helps him track down his maternal uncle Ah Wee, who runs a

bak kut teh ''Bak kut teh'' (also spelt bah kut teh and abbreviated BKT; , Teochew Pe̍h-uē-jī: ''nêg8-gug4-dê5'') is a pork rib dish cooked in broth popularly served in Malaysia and Singapore where there is a predominant Hoklo and Teochew communit ...

stall. Masato discovers that his grandmother Madam Lee is still alive, and that she holds the key to the tender yet turbulent love story of his parents. Masato and his grandmother try to heal each other’s broken souls, and find salvation in the kitchen where the meals they cook become more than the sum of their ingredients.

Cast

() as Masato *

as Mei Lian *

() as Miki * Mark Lee as Uncle Wee *

() as Kazuo *

() as Uncle Akio * Beatrice Chien as Madam Lee

Production

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

began in July 2017, in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. Several recurring scenes were filmed in the Jigen-in Temple, located at the summit of Mt. Kannonyama in Takasaki, Japan, featuring the majestic

Takasaki Byakue Dai-Kannon The is a Guanyin, Kannon statue located on top of Mt. Kannonyama in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture. It is also known colloquially as Kannonyama, and sometimes pronounced as Byakui as well. In Jomo Karuta, it is featured on the 'hi' card. Overview ...

. Japanese chef Keisuke Takeda and Singapore food blogger Dr Leslie Tay were tapped to consult on the culinary scenes in the film.

Release

The film premiered as the closing film of the Culinary Cinema section at the

on 23 February 2018.

Reception

Eric Khoo and Jeanette Aw At Books Kinokuniya For Ramen Teh DVD Premiere-1

Box office

In limited reporting, ''Ramen Teh'' grossed $26,149 in Colombia, $9,384 in Czech Republic, $472,940 in France and $72,984 in Spain.

Critical response

''Ramen Teh'' received positive reviews and currently holds an aggregate of at

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, based on reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "On a filmmaking level, ''Ramen Shop'' may not be quite as rich and flavorful as the cuisine it celebrates, but it's still a largely satisfying -- and hunger-inducing -- experience." Maggie Lee of

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

stated that "derivative aspects aside, this simple and direct celebration of Singapore’s culinary heritage goes down easy". Allan Hunter of

Screen International ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involved in the global film business. ...

wrote in his review, "Khoo's gentle drama may be too slight and sentimental for some tastes but it is handled with a sincerity that could commend it to incurable romantics and insatiable foodies alike".

References

External links

*
Official Site
{{Portal bar, Film, Japan, Singapore, Food 2018 films 2010s Japanese-language films Singaporean drama films Japanese drama films French drama films Singaporean multilingual films Japanese multilingual films French multilingual films 2010s English-language films 2010s Mandarin-language films English-language Singaporean films English-language Japanese films 2010s Japanese films 2010s French films