#eric khoo

FILMS in 2025: 42 | Ramen Shop ラーメン テー (2018) — dir. Eric Khoo     

情牽拉麵茶, 2018

Ramen Teh

directed by Eric Khoo, 2018

A mouth-watering, heart-warming story about a Singaporean haafu who tries to reconnect with his mother’s family after his emotionally distant Japanese father passes away.　

Caught a screening of Ramen Shop at IFC Center. Calling a movie “Ozu-esque” has become a film criticism cliche at this point, but the label undeniably applies to this understated, food-fueled family drama. Following the sudden death of his father—the proprietor of a popular ramen restaurant in Japan—an aspiring chef embarks on a culinary tour of his mother’s native Singapore in order to rediscover his roots. Of course, the volatile history between his parents’ home countries makes it difficult for the half-breed outsider to find acceptance among his foreign relatives; fortunately, cuisine is a universal language, allowing people from disparate cultures to reconnect, reconcile, and even fall in love. Stylistically spare but emotionally rich, Ramen Shop is a beautiful celebration of mankind’s capacity to grow and change—to find common ground and set aside such superficial differences as race, color, and creed.

Mee Pok Man dir. Eric Khoo, Singapore, 1995.

Mee Pok Man - Eric Khoo