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Ramen Heads

RAMEN HEADS (Koki Shigeno, Japan). 93 minutes. Rating: NNNN


Food lovers will (loudly) slurp up this in-depth study of Japan’s favourite comfort dish. The doc focuses largely on the training, techniques and travels of top ramen chef Osamu Tomita, who routinely sees queues forming outside his shop at 6 am.

Director Koki Shigeno also takes detours into the dish’s postwar origins, shining the spotlight on some of Japan’s most enduring ramen haunts and iconoclastic cooks. The chef at Hayama, who slings his leg over a rolling pin to press out his homemade noodles, is a particular highlight. 

Each bowl of shoyu, shio and tsukemen is shot so intimately, you can practically feel the steam on your nose: flecks of broth whiz in a battered stock pot fat bubbles burst as a blowtorch chars cha-shu pork the yolk of a soy-sauce-marinated egg glows faintly in the kitchen light.

Long story short: midway through writing this review, I had to make a Kinton takeout run.

May 4, 5:45 pm, Scotiabank 13 May 5, 10:15 am, TIFF 3 May 6, 10:45 am, TIFF 2 May 7, noon, Hart House

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