Bakso Es Teler Mini Ubaya [Surabaya]

Famous Bakso near Surabaya University

Ini post kedua saya tentang warung bakso, setelah Bakso Pak Doel, dan setelah ini akan cukup banyak yang menyusul berhubung partner makan saya akhir-akhir ini penggemar fanatik bakso. Dahulu saya tidak terlalu senang menu bakso, berhubung jarang mengetahui tempat bakso yang enak.

First let me say that this is my second post on one of the most popular dish in Indonesia, Bakso. The first bakso to be featured in this blog was Bakso Pak Doel, and please expect much more to come, since my dining partner is an avid bakso lover.

I've never liked bakso before, since I have no clue where to get a decent one. Once I've tried some of the better places, my opinion on the dish changes a bit

Bakso or baso is Indonesian meatball or meat paste made from beef surimi and is similar in texture to the Chinese beef ball, fish ball, or pork ball.[1] Bakso is commonly made from beef with a small quantity of tapioca flour, however bakso can also be made from other ingredients, such as chicken, fish, or shrimp. Bakso are usually served in a bowl of beef broth, with yellow noodles, bihun (rice vermicelli), salted vegetables, tofu, egg (wrapped within bakso), Chinese green cabbage, bean sprout, siomay or steamed meat dumpling, and crisp wonton, sprinkled with fried shallots and celery. Bakso can be found all across Indonesia; from the traveling cart street vendors to restaurants. Today various types of ready to cook bakso also available as frozen food commonly sold insupermarkets in Indonesia. Slices of bakso often used and mixed as compliments in mi goreng, nasi goreng, or cap cai recipes.

Unlike other meatball recipes, bakso has a consistent firm, dense, homogeneous texture due to the polymerization of myosin in the beef surimi. (Wikipedia)

Menu Bakso Ubaya / Es Teler Mini

Gorengan & Tahu Bulat - Bakso Ubaya / Es Teler Mini

Masalah Kesehatan

Selain penggunaan borax dan bahan lain misterius, termasuk kecap papaya dsb, saya jarang makan bakso sejak mengikuti diet food combining. Salah satu dasar diet tersebut adalah tidak menggabungkan protein hewani dengan karbohidrat / starch, jadi walau ketemu bakso kualitas super sekalipun, saya tidak berani sering-sering makan karena bakso sendiri dibuat dengan menggabungkan tepung dan daging.

Health Hazard

There's a mention of using borax etc in the wikipedia page. Since this is basically a culinary blog, I won't post too much about it, since it could kill your appetite :D

Apart from that excerpt from Wikipedia, there's also another point of health issues for me personally. I have been following a food combining regiment, where we're not suppose to mix meat protein with starch due to the different enzyme needed to digest them. This would cause indigestion as well as health issue in the long term. Well, this meatball even in it's healthiest form without additives, is still a big no-no for food combiners, since it mixed flour and meat.

Hence those are the reason I didn't cover meatball ala Indonesia aka Bakso too much in the past

Bakso Es Teler Mini / ETM Ubaya - Rp 13.000

Apa yang bikin bakso terasa enak?

Bakso ini memiliki mihun/ bihun yang lunak, daging yang disajikan juga terasa padat sehingga tidak memiliki tekstur yang pecah-pecah. Daging bakso halus dan kasarnya tidak memiliki perbedaan yang cukup signifikan karena daging bakso halusnya memiliki tekstur yang sedikit kasar juga.

Para pecinta bakso dengan mudah bisa membedakan bakso yang sudah lama ngendon di kulkas dengan bakso yang dibuat segar. Untuk kuahnya, ada yang rasa kuah enak karena memang kaldunya dibuat dengan baik, ada juga yang sekedar gurih nikmat, tapi setelahnya terasa aneh di tenggorokan dan tanpa aroma, karena hanya mengandalkan MSG untuk mengolah rasa.

What makes a good bakso?

Usually for us it's the texture and taste, a fresh meatball shouldn't taste like it sat in the fridge for days, a distinct smell of cheap fridge or chemical isn't present. The broth should be tasty without feeling like we just sip down something from an MSG factory dumpster.

This one have a good meatball texture, a decent broth, though the 'tomato' sauce is the usual mysterious concoction you'd find in typical bakso place.

Depot Mirasa

Depot Mie Rasa

Dalam satu kompleks dengan ETM ini, ada beberapa pilihan makanan lain. Yang saya ingat adalah gado-gado dan Depot Mirasa ini. Sayangnya warung gado-gado saat itu tutup, sedangkan hari itu ada yang sedang pantang makan daging. Akhirnya pilihan jatuh ke Bakmie Kuah versi tanpa daging ini.

In the same area with the Bakso ETM, there's various other food vendor. I recall a Gado-gado seller apart from this Depot Mirasa. Too bad the Gado-gado was closed during my visit, and one of us was on a vegetarian diet that day, hence the choice went to this Noodle Soup.

Bakmi Kuah Depot Mirasa (Rp 11.000)

Menu Depot Mirasa - Raya Tenggilis

Map :

Bakso Es Teler Mini / Bakso Ubaya

Jalan Raya Tenggilis

Telepon : 081 331 666 942