Comparing Bak Kut Teh Restaurants

COMPARATIVE RESEARCH
REPORT
BAK KUT TEH

ENGLISH 2 (ENGL 0205)

FNBE SEPT 2012 - ENGL 0205 Names of group members:
English 2 Daniel Yap Chung Kiat, Lee Chee Ming, Yo Kai Sen, Chew
Jun Ming

Bak Kut TehRestaurant
English 2 (ENGL 0205)
Assignment 2
Comparative Research Report

Daniel Yap Chung Kiat(0309100)
Lee CheeMing(030895)
Yo Kai Sen(0310563)
Chew Jun Ming(0310173)
Jun Ming

TABLE OF CONTENT

No. Content Pages
1 Research proposal 1-3

2 Chinese Cuisine 4

3 Chinese Herbal 4-5

4 Introduction of Bak Kut Teh 6

5 History of Bak Kut Teh 6-7

6 Ingredient of Bak Kut Teh 7

7 Similarities between Bak Kut Teh 8-10

Restaurant

8 Comparison between Bak Kut Teh 11-15

Restaurant

9 Conclusion 16

10 Appendix 17

11 Interview Question 18-20

12 Minutes 21-23

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THE RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Name: DANIEL YAP CHUNG KIAT, CHEW JUN MING, LEE CHEE MING, YO

KAI SEN

Class: English 2

Period: MON & TUES/TUES &THURS

INTRODUCTION:

In this section, give a very short synopsis of what your research report is about.

The topic of our research report is about a Hokkien food, Bak Kut Teh. Bak Kut

Teh was introduced to Malaya in the 19th century by Chinese coolies and workers of

Hokkien origin. Bak Kut Teh is famous of its unique and numerous cooking styles. It has

three cooking styles in general, Cantonese style, Hokkien style, and Hoklo style. The

astonishing truth is Cantonese style is the major style and more preferable by young and

old in Malaysia although Bak Kut Teh is derived from Hokkien. In addition, a dry form

of Bak Kut Teh has also recently become increasingly popular within Malaysia,

especially in Klang town. Unlike the original rib soup, the dry version has a tangier,

sharper taste and is more akin to a herbal stew than the classical broth. It is often

recommended locally in Malaysia as an excellent hangover cure. This shows that Bak

Kut Teh can be cooked in various ways, the ways the cook Bak Kut Teh is not important,

as long as it taste great and we can get satisfied.

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RESEARCH QUESTIONS

List the research questions very clearly and concisely. Number each question.

1. Name of the owner

2. Age of business owner

3. How long of their business

4. Aim of business

5. Who handle the business?

6. What time is the most people come to visit?

7. Age range

8. What time start and end of his business

9. How much is one bowlBak Kut Teh?

10. How to cook Bak Kut Teh?

11. Customer feedback

METHODOLOGY

List all your methods one at a time and provide details of when and how you expect to

carry out your research methods.

Online survey, visitation and also interview the owner. We will do the online survey first

about the “Bak Kut Teh” shop we want to visit and find some information about the

location of the shop. We will complete the visitation at the second time. During the

visitations, we will interview the owner of the shop about the questions that we had

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prepared. After complete the visitations, we will find a time to gather and discuss about

the essay we are going to present

CONCLUSION

Briefly explain what you expect to accomplish through the above methods and the

information that you expect to obtain by carrying out your plan above.

We expect to collect the data and reflection of the business from the different

particular owner so that we can integrate it to a complete report so that we can refer it to

do our assignment according to what we have done in the previous time.

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CHINESE CUISINE

Chinese cuisine has a long history in the world and it is one of the Chinese culture

treasures. It has become increasingly popular in parts in other parts of the world – from

Asia to Western Countries such as America, Australia, Western Europe, and Southern

Africa. It is categorized by fine selection of ingredients, precise processing, and particular

care to the amount of fire. To prepare a good Chinese food contain four main criteria

which are color, aroma, taste and texture. There are few local Chinese cuisines such as

Shandong, Szechuan, Huaiyang, Guangdong, Hunan, Fujian, Anhui, and Zhejiang.

Sometimes Beijing and Shanghai cuisine are also counted as local cuisine.

In addition, palace, vegetarian and medicinal dishes categorized as special cuisine

in China.

CHINESE HERBAL

Chinese herbals were important to Chinese people. Chinese herbs have been used

for centuries. There are roughly 13000 medicinal used in China and over 100000

medicinal recipes recorded in the ancient literature. Some common Chinese herbal that

used in Chinese cooking are five spice powder, parsley, onion, garlic, and basil. Cooking

food with Chinese herbs can help to increase therapeutic and nutritional values and it has

become one of the most ancient and original principles in traditional Chinese cuisine.

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Chinese herbal can get from part of plants or animals. In ancient, Chinese would

make full use of all parts of plant including the bark, seeds, stems, leaves, flowers and

fruits. These all parts can be used in cooking or creating medicine. Besides that, some

animal parts are also used as medicines such as penis of animals as therapeutic, snake oil

used to treat joint pain and others. Although some of the parts are strange to other people

but the Chinese think that it is useful and effective. However, there is no clinical evidence

proof that the Chinese herbals are fully effective.

Chinese herbal used in cuisine has a long history in China before. The cuIsine that

used Chinese herbal is based on the Chinese medical knowledge. Chinese herbal cuisine

is unique because it consider as healthy food by most Chinese people and it is also

delicious. To prepare a delicious Chinese herbal cuisine, the cook must know the

varieties of food and the function and uses of Chinese herbals. During the cooking of

Chinese herbal cuisine, slow cooking methods is important because it need to extract

more of the herbs‟ healing properties and shows the effectiveness to the person.

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WHAT IS BAK KUT TEH?

Bak Kut Teh is a traditional Chinese cuisine. The word, Bak Kut Teh is directly

translated from Hokkien dialect which means “meat bone tea”. It is a type of Chinese

soup, which consists of meaty pork ribs simmered in a complex broth of herbs and spices.

This Chinese cuisine is popularly served in Malaysia and Singapore. This dish is

normally served with oolong tea, steamed rice and also You Tiao. The reason for serving

Bak Kut Teh with oolong tea is because tea is believed that it can help to dilute the

copious amount of fat consumed in this pork-laden dish. Although this dish consists of

several herbs that are known for their therapeutic properties, it is bad for our health if we

eat it too much because it is high in cholesterol. There are three different cooking styles

of Bak Kut Teh in the market, Teochew, Hokkien and Cantonese. Each cooking styles

have different specialties. Teochew style Bak Kut Teh is light in color and has uses more

pepper and garlic in preparing the soup. Hokkien style Bak Kut Teh is darker in color

beside more soy sauce is used in preparing the soup. Cantonese style Bak Kut Teh has

used some different herbs to make the soup has a stronger taste.

HISTORY OF BAK KUT TEH

There are two version of history aboutBak Kut Teh that we found during our

research from internet and interview. The first version said that Bak Kut Teh started

around the Clarke Quay/ River Valley area back in the post war years. Back then, the

Chinese coolies had to offload the heavy item such as rice packs, stones etc., which was

considered as a backbreaking work. Therefore, the men needed to eat food that would

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boost their energy to work. One enterprising Teochew man started selling soup made

from boiling pork ribs and bones with garlic and pepper. Thus was born the Bak Kut Teh.

The second version stated that the inventor of Bak Kut Teh is Lee Boon Teh. He

was a medical sensei from Klang. Besides that, he also worked as a part time pork rib‟s

soup trader in Klang. He started up a stall named Seng Huat to sell Bak Kut Teh. After the

dish, he served a pot of Chinese hot tea to his customer. The naming of Bak Kut Teh was

because of the same pronunciation with Bak Kut Tea in Hokkien dialect.

INGREDIENTS OF BAK KUT TEH

The ingredients of Bak Kut Teh are different from each cooking style and shops.

The most common ingredients are pork ribs, water, soy sauce, mushrooms, tofu puffs,

salt, garlic etc. Besides ingredients, spices are needed to favor the soup. Different spices

are used to prepare the soup such as Angelicae sinensis, Polygonatum Odoratum,

Cinnamomum, Pepper, Ginseng etc. These spices can be easily bought from Chinese

herbal shop.

Spices used to cook Bak Kut Teh

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Chao Kiat Bak Kut Teh Bak Kut Teh

SIMILARITIES BETWEEN LI YUEN BAK KUT TEH AND CHAO KIAT BAK

KUT TEH

There are also similarities between Li Yuen Bak Kut Teh and Chao Kiat Bak Kut

Teh. Both of them had opened their business for more than 25 years. In these 25 years

they work very hard for it and they are also learned a lot experience from their business

so their business can continue until now. Besides that, they opened their business is not

relevant to their interest but for their life. They are work to earn money. They believe that

to learn a craft by open their business is stable for their life. Not only that, from our

interview, we found that they two are also same by 12pm to 1pm is the most people

visited to their restaurant because 12pm to 1pm is normally lunch time for other workers.

Many nearby worker will go their restaurant for lunch so it will be very busy on this 1

hour. Moreover they are also same age range to them. They two age range are 4 to 70,

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this shows that Bak Kut Teh business is not only old people will do it but young people

also will do it. There is no age control to do Bak Kut Teh so it is suitable for young and

old people to do it. From the business, they two are also same opened their business in

early morning. They two have to wake up early morning to prepare for their business.

They two everyday open their restaurant by 7am and finished it by 3pm. It is around 8

hours. In these 8 hours they have finished selling their Bak Kut Teh. These mean their

Bak Kut Teh business is really not bad. It is enough for them to earn money and live for

their life.

SIMILARITIES BETWEEN LI YUEN BAK KUT TEH AND LIEONG KEE BAE

GOOD TEH

From the other side there is also similarity between Li Yuen Bak Kut Teh and

LieongKeeBae Good Teh .They are also same opened their business more than 25 years.

They continue doing their business until now is just live for their life and to earn money.

It is same by not relevant to their personal interest. From we see thatBak Kut Teh

traditional businesses are not just doing by their interest but for their earning money.

They are earning for their life. They are also same age range between them. That is also 4

to 70 age range. Any of age also can do the business. From this point we can know that

Bak Kut Teh traditional businesses got young and old people are doing. This mean now

Bak Kut Teh business is not just have old people doing but for young also starting to do it.

They two are also same start doing their business by early morning. They are same have

to wake up in the morning by 7am doing their business until 3pm. After 3pm they are not

continue by doing it. It is also same 8 hours, maximum hours for their business. Another
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similarity for Li Yuen Bak Kut Teh and LieongKeeBae Good Teh is they are also learned

to cook Bak Kut Teh from their parents. From the food, Li Yuen and LieongKeeBae

Good Tehhave their own special taste by using their parents‟ traditional method to cook it.

They are hand down from their ancestors so they are continuing doing their Bak Kut Teh

until now. Without their parents traditional method they are hard to do their Bak Kut Teh

business.

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COMPARISON BETWEEN LI YUEN BAK KUT TEH AND CHAO KIAT BAK

KUT TEH

Both Li Yuen Bak Kut Teh and Chao KiatBak Kut Teh are a bakkuttehshop which

located at Klang, a place where „crowded‟ of Bak Kut teh. This simply means that Klang

is full with various type of bakkuttehshop. Though they both located at Klang but this

does not mean that they are same in aspect. They differ in different aspects.

For instances, the most common and obvious different aspects among them is the

owner. So, what is the owner‟s name for Li Yuen and Chao KiatBak Kut Teh? From the

given signboard, I can predict that the owner of the Li Yuen Bak Kut Teh is namely Li

Yuen… Although this is just my assumption but I try to prove it afterward and eventually

I got the answer that is consistent with my answer. On the other hands, I use the same

method to estimate the name owner of Chao KiatBak Kut Teh but unfortunately I am

mistaken because not all the signboards are derived from the name of the owner. This

really teaches me a lesson. So, the name of the owner is named Li Siew Fen, which is

totally not relevant to the signboard.

Besides that, Li Yuen is a man who is 75 years old while Li Siew Fen is a woman

who is 63 years old. Although Li Yuen is the founder of Li Yuen Bak Kut Teh but he said

that his son is the person to be in charge and take over his business. He claims that he is

already old and has a limited energy to run a business so what he can do is merely assists

and offers help to his son. Besides that, Li Siew Fen is still handing her business on her

own although she is already 63 years old. She says that she is interest in exercise and thus

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she exercise regularly. That‟s the prime reason for her to sustain and run such a business

with her old age.

The next issue I going to discuss is quite interesting because I beg that most of the

people will concern about this problem. Of course this is something relevant to money,

the price of the bakkutteh. You can have a bowl of bakkutteh from Li Yuen shop with just

RM 8 and RM 10 for Chao KiatBak Kut Teh. It is undeniable that the price is reasonable

and I belief that many people will get satisfy since Li Yuen bakkutteh is high quality

foods with a low price. If I apply the economy concept here, it state that the higher the

quality of the products, the higher the price will be. When the quality products sell at the

low price, the demand of the products will increase greatly. Of course, the demand for Li

Yuen Bak Kut Teh is high because his tea market is always crowed by people. It can be

tourists and local nations. The low price is not the only factors that cause a rise in high

demand.

However, the method to cook bakkutteh is also a decisive factor that should be

taken as consideration because the method to cook bakkutteh will directly influence the

taste as well as the smell of bakkutteh. This is important because people will look at the

appearance of the food, then the smell and subsequently the taste of the food before they

eat. Li Yuen is still using the traditional method that was passed from his parents while Li

Siew Fen uses Cantonese style and Hokkien style. These styles are different in its taste,

smell and the material used. For Cantonese style, Cantonese style is a soup-drinking

cultur, add medicinal herbs to create a stronger flavored soup while Hokkien style uses

more soy sauce resulting in a darker soup.
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LieongKeeBae Good Teh
COMPARISON BETWEEN LI YUEN BAK KUT TEH AND LIEONG KEE BAE

GOOD TEH

After compare the two bakkutteh shop where it located at Klang as I mentioned just

now, I would like to choose one of them to contrast with another bakkutteh shop where it

located in Kepong at this moment. This is an interesting issue because the differences

between them seem to be Klang versus Kepong. So, the bakkutteh shop that I going to

choose is Li Yuen Bak Kut Teh, which I think is representative compared to Chao

KiatBak Kut Teh. The bakkutteh shop that I selected in Puchong is LieongKeeBae Good

teh, one of the most famed bakkuttehshop in Kepong with its distinctive bakkutteh.

The owner of LieongKeeBae Good Teh is namely Leong Kee Fong but his daughter,

Leong Mei Fen is the person who in control of the shop presently in fact. She is a

successful married woman and she is now 36 years old and obviously the owner is

namely Li Yuen for Li Yuen Bak Kut The. This is a clear difference in the name and sex

between both of them. Besides that, the person who takes charge of the business is also

different among these shops.

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Currently, Mei Fen still runs her business although she was married. She told me that this

is not indigestible because a business women are generally more aggressive compared to

another woman. Secondly, she makes a confession that she is an outgoing person, that‟s

why she wants to run a business so that she has a legitimate reason to avoid restraint from

her children as possible. On the other hands, Li Yuen has handed over his business to his

son because he is already old and unable to keep the business runs regularly with his

limited energy. So, he has the responsible to keep the business runs and function

regularly.

Mei Fen claims that her bakkutteh shop is always crowded with bunch of people all the

times. It is verified that this is not an exaggeration because I used to experience it before

when we visit her shop. We can only found an empty seat after hovering for a few

seconds in front of the shop, it is really impressive. The best is yet to come, the customers

always queue up in a straight line before she opens her shop and the shop will remain

crowded until she closes her shop, it is from 7am until 3pm. As for Li Yuen Bak Kut Teh,

it also start at 7am until 3pm but the difference among them is Li Yuen Bak Kut Teh can

only reach the maximum customers at about 12pm until 1pm, since it is lunchtime. This

means that the shop will be crowded by customers about one hour.

The price for LionegKeeBae Good Teh is RM10 per bowl while it is just cost RM8 for

one bowl of Li Yuen Bak Kut Teh. Now, a funny thing comes to the surface, according to

the economic principle, the higher the price, the lower the demand, but the demand for Li

Yuen Bak Kut Teh is lower and it is shown through the crowdedness of customers as we

mention just now. So, how can it be? It is based on the place they choose to run their

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business. This is because different place has different population. A place with higher

population can generate higher profit and vice versa. This principle can apply in this

situation because Mei Fen has choose a strategic place to run the business where it

located at urban center while Li Yuen Bak Kut Teh is currently placed at the remote area

in Klang. This means that the population determines their profit at the very start.

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CONCLUSION

In conclusion, Li Yuen Bak Kut Teh is better than Chao KiatBak Kut Teh from the

feedback given by the customers in many aspects. First of all, the customers state that the

taste of the Li Yuen Bak Kut Teh is pretty good but the taste for the Chao KiatBak Kut

Teh is not bad. If a rank is given, Li Yuen Bak Kut Teh is worth 4 stars while Chao

KiatBak Kut Teh is just worthy 3 stars. Although there are some similarities between

them but it doesn‟t affect their quality of food and demand of bakkutteh. The quality of Li

Yuen Bak Kut Teh is higher compared to Chao Kiat Bak Kut Teh, not only that but the

price of Li Yuen Bak Kut Teh is also lower than Chao KiatBak Kut Teh. These are the

main reasons that cause different demand among them. That‟s why the demand for Li

Yuen Bak Kut Teh is higher. As for LieongKeeBah Good Teh, it is not losing to Li Yuen

Bak Kut Teh, but superior to it instead. Although their rank is the same according to the

feedback from the customers but there is a critical difference among them. The decisive

difference is place. A place can determine the profit generated by the owner all the times

because different place has different population. Obviously a place with higher

population can generate more profit compared to the lower ones. That is why the

LieongKeeBah Good Teh is always crowded by customers while Li Yuen Bak Kut Teh is

only crowded by customers at lunchtime.

Jun Ming

APPENDIX

1. http://www.tourmalaysia.com/2009/09/23/bah-kut-teh-is-a-truly-malaysian-dish/

2. http://ieatishootipost.sg/2011/07/seng-huat-bak-kut-teh-restoran-origins.html

3. http://ieatishootipost.sg/2007/06/outram-park-ya-hua-bak-kut-teh-short.html

4. http://www.foodcanon.com/2012/08/auntie-rubys-bak-kut-teh.html

5. http://www.noobcook.com/klang-bak-kut-teh/

6. http://kyspeaks.com/2012/12/12/ky-eats-chow-kiat-bak-kut-teh-klang/

7. http://olivepotato.wordpress.com/2013/01/06/leong-kee-klang-bah-kut-teh-

%E6%A2%81%E8%AE%B0%E8%82%89%E9%AA%A8%E8%8C%B6-

%E5%B7%B4%E7%94%9F-pre-dinner-geylang-lorong-11/

8. http://www.sgfoodonfoot.com/2011/09/leong-kee-klang-bak-kut-teh-beach-

road.html

9. http://www.chinatoday.com/culture/chinese_food_cuisine.htm

10. http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/articles/china/chinese-cooking-herbs/1816

11. http://www.ethicsfoodsco.com/China/ChineseMedicineCuisines.htm

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INTERVIEW QUESTION

Klang

Li Yuen Bak Kut Teh

Name of the owner: Li Yuen

Age: 75

How long of their business: more than 25 years

Aim of business: To earn money, not relevant to his personal interest

Who handle the business: His son

What time is the most people come to visit: 12pm until 1pm, since it is lunchtime

Age range: 4 to 70, this shows that bakkutteh is suitable for young and old

What time start and end of his business: 7am until 3pm, it is around 8 hours

How much of one bowl Bak Kut Teh: generally RM8

How to cook: Traditional method from his parents, it is hand down from his ancestors

Customer feedback: Good, traditional method is really deserve the reputation

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Klang

Chao Kiat Bak Kut Teh

Name of the owner: Li Siew Fen

Age: 63



Who handle the business: Li SiewFen

What time is the most people come to visit: 12pm until 1pm, since it is lunchtime




How to cook: Common Cantonese style with a soup-drinking culture, add medicinal

herbs to create a stronger flavoured soup and Hokkien style which use more soy sauce

resulting in a darker soup.

Customer feedback: OK, not bad

Kepong

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LieongKeeBae Good Teh

Name of the owner: Leong Kee Fong

Age: 36



Who handle the business: Leong Mei Fen

What time is the most people come to visit: all the time until the shop closes




How to cook: Traditional method from his parents, it is hand down from his ancestors

Customer feedback: This place serves really good Bak Kut The, must go and try it out

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Discussion about the English research assignment
Minutes 07/01/2013 3.30pm-4.15pm library discussion room 4.2

MEETING CALLED BY
Daniel Yap Chung Kiat

TYPE OF MEETING
Discussion idea

FACILITATOR
Lee Chee Ming

NOTE TAKER
Daniel Yap Chung Kiat, Chew Jun Ming

TIMEKEEPER
Yo Kai Sen

ATTENDEES
Lee Chee Ming, Daniel Yap Chung Kiat, Yo Kai Sen, Chew Jun Ming

Agenda topics
0.5 hours place to interview leecheeming
Discuss about the area in Klang we want to interview. First area is the area in front of
DISCUSSION the KTM station.

Second area is the area where Mydin Mall is located.

Some members go to Klang area to estimate the walking journey and search for Bak Kut
CONCLUSIONS Teh shop.

ACTION ITEMS PERSON RESPONSIBLE DEADLINE

Go to the area to estimate the journey and search for the Lee Chee Ming, Daniel
15/01/2013
Bak Kut Teh shop. Yap

Chew Jun Ming, Yo Kai
Do research about the Bak Kut Teh shop in Klang area 11/01/2013
Sen

Jun Ming

0.5 hours Selection of old bakkutteh shop daniel yap
The Bak Kut Teh shops such as Seng Huat, Chow Kiat, and Li Yuanetc have been listed
DISCUSSION down. How to

approach the business owner and book a time for interview.

CONCLUSIONS
Select Chow KiatBak Kut Teh shop and Li Yuan Bak Kut Teh shop as our interview target.


Drives the group members to the shop Lee Chee Ming 16/01/2013

Daniel Yap, Chew Jun
Ask the business owner for interview 16/01/2013
Ming

old Bak Kut teh shop outside klang
0.5 hours yo Kai sen
area
Which areas have old age Bak Kut Teh shop? Puchong area, Subang area or Kepong
DISCUSSION area? Which shops

we choose to interview.

CONCLUSIONS
The Bak Kut Teh at Sunway area, Kepong area and Puchong area have been chosen.


Lee Chee Ming, Chew Jun
Go to ask for interview 19/01/2013
Ming

1 hours How to do report Chew junming
What is the format of report? The different part of essay in charge by different
DISCUSSION members. The person in

charge of the cover page design.

Jun Ming

The cover page design is in charge by Daniel Yap and the report compilation is in charge
CONCLUSIONS by Jun Ming. All

the members in charge the different parts of essay.


Cover page design Daniel Yap 24/01/2013

Report compilation Jun Ming 24/01/2013

OBSERVERS
-

RESOURCE PERSONS
Resources online

Jun Ming

Comparing Bak Kut Teh Restaurants

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