Hit or Miss? My review of the Huiyoyoyi Japanese Ramen Shop H1010 Building Block Set

 

Hey brick fans!

Today, we're taking a look at another Japanese-themed building from Huiyoyoyi, the H1010 Japanese Street View Ramen Shop. Having previously built the H1007 Sunny Variety Store, I'm looking forward to seeing what Huiyoyoyi has come up with this time around.

With approximately 1,670 pieces, an elaborate Japanese storefront, plenty of printed details and an integrated lighting kit, this little ramen shop looks like another interesting addition to the growing selection of Japanese street-view buildings.

About the Ramen Shop

The Huiyoyoyi H1010 represents a traditional Japanese ramen restaurant, complete with a two-storey wooden building, distinctive black tiled roof and a busy storefront.

The exterior is full of Japanese-inspired details, including colourful restaurant signage, traditional lanterns, decorative window frames and a collection of little accessories that help bring the scene to life.

The ground floor is where all the action takes place, with an outdoor ramen counter, and decent sized kitchen . Upstairs, the building features additional architectural detailing that gives the model its distinctive Japanese appearance, with seating for another 3 patrons.

As with the Variety Store H1007, this set makes extensive use of printed elements rather than stickers, which is something I particularly appreciate from Huiyoyoyi.

The Specs

Brand: Huiyoyoyi

Set name and number: Japanese Ramen Shop H1010

Number of pieces: 1670pcs

Light kit: included,  11 lighting elements, one control module, one usb-c/usb cable.

Stickers: No 

Printed pieces: yes, 22 pieces approximately

I purchased my set from a store called York Toy Store on Aliexpress for approximately $50 USD after coupons and discounts.

Unboxing

The set contains approximately 1,670 pieces and includes a lighting kit. Unfortunately, there are no minifigures included.

I ordered the set from Aliexpress and it came in a large cellophane bag.  With more parts bags inside.

The parts bags were all numbered one thru five with an extra bag of parts for plates, window pieces and assorted printed parts.

Additionally, there were several bags dedicated to the lighting kit, which we will discuss later.  One bag held a control module, 3 bags contained led light strings, and another 2 bags of cylinder light bricks.  Plus one brick separator.

The Build

The build is divided into 5 stages, with the initial construction focusing on the restaurant's foundation and interior details.

The base footprint is 24 studs wide and 20 studs deep,  The actual building size is only 15 studs deep and 18 studs wide on the ground floor.

One thing that immediately stands out is the amount of detail Huiyoyoyi has managed to incorporate into such a relatively compact building.    The build uses a lot of 1x1 and 1x2 pieces and there were times during the build where, for example,  a single 1x6 piece could have been used in place of 2 1x3 pieces.  So I think overall, the number of parts could probably have been reduced to about 1400 to 1500 pieces.

The restaurant's exterior combines dark brown and tan elements, with a large black tiled roof that gives the building a very traditional Japanese appearance.

The provided instruction booklet has 73 pages but I found it extremely difficult to discern the difference between the brown parts and the dark red parts when going through the instructions.

Ground Floor Pics

The ground floor features a ramen counter with three stools, kitchen details and plenty of little  accessories.  

There are some particularly nice touches here, like the detailed kitchen appliances and counter. These little details help establish the atmosphere of a busy Japanese noodle shop.

There is adequate space in the kitchen for minifigures but too bad none are included.  I added my own minifigure so you can get a sense of the scale of the kitchen.  I would have liked to have seen the set including a ramen chef plus some counter help.  Bonus would be some salarymen minifigures at the counter.  

So in the H1007 Variety Store, I decided I wouldn't use the lighting kit provided.  But I thought I would try it out with the Ramen shop.

I attached the lighting elements to the ceiling and then plugged them into the control module.  Even though I had a battery pack attached to the control module, the lights would not come on. At this point I left the wires as is, but would investigate the lighting problem later after completing the ramen shop build.

Second Floor Pics

The second floor is directly attached to the ground floor meaning that it is not modular nor can the floors be separated.  Also there is no back wall behind the kitchen.  This set is more dollhouse than modular building.

The second floor layout consists of seating for three plus an outdoor patio.

The second floor walls go up and the patio is completed.  There is another light string that is supposed to attach to the underside of the roof but I left it off given the previously mentioned lighting issue.

Exterior pics

As you can see, there's not much to look at on the second floor.  There's a narrow set of steps leading to a seating area with three chairs and a table.  There is a walkout to a small patio, but that's it.

The utility pole is nicely detailed but feels like it's in the wrong place.

Step Five completed.  The exterior is definitely the highlight of this set.

The combination of the traditional roof, wooden construction, red lanterns and colourful restaurant signage makes for a very attractive little Japanese storefront.

The ramen bowl sign on the roof is cute, but I think I should have rotated it a bit.

I particularly like the attention to detail around the entrance and the different signs above the serving counter. 

The completed model looks particularly good when displayed alongside other Japanese-themed buildings from CaDA, and Huiyoyoyi.  Of course, a future mod will be placing the ramen shop onto a MILS plate to match the rest of my buildings.

The Lighting Kit Issues

The H1010 also includes an integrated lighting kit, which if worked, would have added another dimension to the finished model.   The light bricks for the street lamps didn't work, so the internal batteries must have been depleted of their energy.

With the control module connected to both a USB battery pack and a power source from the wall, the interior lighting elements did not come on, even though there was a little red light glowing on the control module.  

Reading the instruction sheet,  it seemed like the module needed to be charged up first, so I left it plugged into the power source for a couple of hours.  There are 5 ports on which to connect the different light strings, but none of them worked even after charging the module.

I figured I had nothing to lose, so I took apart the control module to understand what was going on inside.
I found a battery and a circuit board inside.   The circuit board has an on/off button which never worked. 

The battery was connected to a port near the USB-C port, which I will call Input.  The other 5 ports would be Output.   None of the LED lights received any power when connected to the Output ports with the battery connected to the Input port.

On a whim, I plugged the battery into one of the Output ports and one of the light strings into the Input port.   Bingo, we had light!   So it looks like the battery kept it's charge and but the ports were reversed.

I plugged the battery into the remaining Output ports and they all functioned as Input.  As a result I could only have one light string connected to the Input port of the circuit board at any time.

As a result of the testing, the control module is definitely misconfigured or defective.  I will instead use third party LED lights in future to light up the Ramen shop.

Final Thoughts

I was already quite impressed with Huiyoyoyi after building the H1007 Sunny Variety Store, and the H1010 is an attractive addition to my Japanese street-view collection.   Let's look at the pros and cons of the Ramen shop set.

The Pros

• The set definitely gives off a nice and authentic Japanese Ramen shop vibe and displays beautifully.
• Brick quality and clutch was decent.
• There was a satisfactory number of printed parts.
• The kitchen was nicely equipped.

The Cons

• The lighting system was defective and could not be used to light up the entire building.
• The lighting system is not compatible with my other light systems or Briksmax/Lightailing lights.
• The building has a dollhouse design and is not modular with no separation of floors.
• No minfigures come with the set.
• The piece count feels inflated due to the use of smaller pieces.
• It was not easy to discern brown from dark red bricks in the manual.
• The second floor is sparsely furnished

The Verdict

Display Factor – ★★★★☆ (4/5)

From a display standpoint, the HUIYOYOYI H1010 Japanese Ramen Shop is a very attractive little build. It features plenty of intricate details, colourful signage and traditional Japanese architectural elements that give the storefront lots of character. It's definitely a set that looks great on display and would make a nice addition to any Japanese-themed street scene.

I would actually have given it 4.5 stars if the included lighting kit had worked, as the lights would have added that extra bit of atmosphere and really brought the ramen shop to life.

Playability – ★★★☆☆ (3/5)

Unfortunately, the H1010 falls a little short when it comes to playability. Unlike many other modular-style building sets, the structure doesn't come apart into separate sections, making it difficult to access the interior and interact with the various details. The non-functioning lighting kit is another disappointment, and the absence of minifigures makes the finished model feel somewhat lifeless from a play perspective.

While there's plenty to admire visually, the lack of modular access and interactive elements limits its appeal as a playset. It's much better suited as a display piece than a building designed for hands-on play.

One other thing I'd like to add is that the value proposition of the set costing $50 USD is a bit high in my opinion.  I think it would be better priced around the $40 price point.

So what's next for this set?  When time permits, I want to rebuild the Ramen shop to make it bigger and at the same time put it onto a larger MILS plate and install my own lighting.   And add some minifigures, of course!   Let me know what you think of this set, worth it or not?

Thanks for looking!   See you in the next review!