‘Ramen Teh,’ just like last year’s mega hit ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ mostly centers around the Asian experience of Chinese people living in Singapore. But just like the ramen soup dish, the story has both Chinese and Japanese elements. Directed by Eric Khoo, the film is about a young man Masato (Takumi Saito) who searches for answers in his familial history. He goes to Singapore because he wants to learn how to cook bak kut teh, but really, he is searching for what happened to his family. His father passed away cold and unhappy, unable to move on from his wife’s early passing. Their family moved from Singapore to Japan when he was young, and he only has his mother’s diary (written in Cantonese, which he doesn’t understand) as a clue.  The movie rolls smoothly, with every reveal at the right place, and you cannot help but get engrossed with these characters. It showcases Singapore pretty well, not just the ‘rich areas’ which was the focus of that ‘other’ movie. And foodies will have a field day with the rich and colorful dishes they make here. Your eyes will be inf or a feast.

And I really liked this film a lot. Sure it’s a bit on the sentimental side, but I am a very sentimental dude. I won’t lie that as Masato reminisces about his deceased parents I couldn’t help but think of mine. This is certainly better than ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ in representing this specific culture, and I wish this movie reaches even a tenth of that film’s audience. It deserves it.