Ramen Teh (Chinese: 情牽拉麵茶), also known as Ramen Shop, is a 2018 Sigaporean-Japanese-French drama film directed by Eric Khoo, starring Takumi Saito, Jeanette Aw, Seiko Matsuda, Mark Lee, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Tetsuya Bessho, and Beatrice Chien.
Kazuo (Ihara), who owns a renowned ramen shop in Takasaki, Japan, suddenly dies. His son Masato (Saito) packs Kazuo's things and he finds a notebook written by Mei Lian (Aw), his deceased Singaporean mother. So Masato decides to go to Singapore to get to know more about Mei Lian's life.
Ramen Teh provides examples of:
- Cooking Stories: Masato works with his father in a ramen shop in Takasaki. In Singapore, he meets Miki, a food blogger, then his uncle who runs a bak kut teh stall. Then Masato prepares a meal that combines his Japanese and Singaporean ancestries for his grandmother, who in turns teaches him the traditional Chinese Singaporean cuisine. In the end, Masato opens his own restaurant in Japan.
- Daruma Doll: Masato inherits a daruma doll from Mei Lian, his deceased mother. Mei Lian's wish was to make up with her mother.
- Flashback: There are several flashbacks that show Mei Lian's life from her meeting with Kazuo to her death.
- I Have No Son!: Masam Lee disowns Mei Lian, her daughter, because she chooses to marry a Japanese man. Masam Lee and Mei Lian never become reconciled.
- Imagine Spot: When Masato and Masam Lee are hugging each other, Masam Lee imagines that she is hugging her daughter Mei Lian and she is briefly shown hugging her.
- Like Father, Like Son: In the end, Masato becomes the chef of a renowned ramen shop like his father.
- Long-Lost Relative: In Singapore, Masato meets again his maternal uncle and his grandmother, who he has not seen since he left Singapore as a child.
- Maligned Mixed Marriage: Masam Lee, a Chinese Singaporean, did not accept that her daughter Mei Lian married Kazuo, a Japanese man, because Masam Lee's father was killed by the Japanese forces during WWII.
- Orphan's Plot Trinket: Masato inherits a Daruma Doll from Mei Lian, his deceased mother. In the end, he discovers its meaning: Mei Lian's wish was to make up with her mother.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Masam Lee outlives her daughter Mei Lian, who dies from disease in Japan.
- Parental Abandonment: Masato's mother died when he was a child. His father dies in the beginning of the story.
- Parental Marriage Veto: Masam Lee, a Chinese Singaporean, did not accept that her daughter Mei Lian married Kazuo, a Japanese man. So she never met her daughter again after her marriage.
- Plot-Triggering Death: It is because Kazuo dies that Masato finds Mei Lian's notebook and decides to go to Singapore.
- Secret Diary: Masato finds the notebook of his deceased mother. He cannot read it because it is written in Chinese, but Miki later translates it for him.
- Stranger in a Familiar Land: Masato was born in Singapore and his mother was a Chinese Singaporean. He goes back to Singapore and feels like a stranger because he does not know the language and he has not met for years his relatives who live there.
- Tastes Like Friendship: Masato and her grandmother Masam Lee do not know each other, they speak different languages and they are angry at each other. In order to make up with Masam Lee, Masato prepares a meal for her and leaves it at her door.
- Through His Stomach: When Kazuo dated Mei Lian, he prepared typical Japanese dishes for her.
