For decades, we've grown to love Racks for living up to its promise of delivering the best ribs in town.  Then surprise surprise, a new cooler and younger brother called Rackshack comes along. 

Like all younger brothers, there's a bigger pressure of living up to the expectations set by its older brother. 

With a brighter and hipper vibe and long tables allowing for social eating, it bears no influence of its older brother.

Aside from the name, I bet you couldn't tell just by the looks of the place right?


To properly differ from its good and stable older brother, it also offers booze to heighten the social and dining experience. 

Food

Ridiculously Good Appetizers

♥ Ridiculous Nachos (365 php)

Being born after an older brother, Rackshack sure knows that sharing is caring!  It offers appetizers that are fun to enjoy with company like the Ridiculous Nachos...

Onion Strings (135 php)

Onion Strings...

Skinny Fries (95 php)

and Skinny Fries.

Street Corn Salad (195 php)

Its salad isn't as grand but it is more affordable than what Racks has to offer.

Pork Ribs in Hoisin Sauce (Sampler Only)

Rackshack offers 5 sauces: Mother Sauce (signature house blend), Spicy Mother Sauce, Hoisin Sauce, Carolina Gold (mustard base) and Kansas Sauce (sweet and spicy).  I

♥ Creole Garlic Shrimp (Sampler Only)

 I enjoyed the Creole Garlic Shrimp.

Crack Fried Chicken (Half 345 php)

If I recall correctly, Racks also has an item similar to the Crack Fried Chicken.

Tsinoy Foodies Verdict
So that's what you can expect from Racks cooler and younger brother Rackshack.  Should we welcome it with open arms and love it just like its older brother?   Hmm... I wouldn't want to spoil it so I'll be honest with my opinion that it has yet to convince many that it can deliver consistently like Racks was able to.  But price-wise, it is a bit cheaper.

Sorry sports fans, I know I will sound like a loser to you all.  But, I have to come clean and be honest that I don't really watch basketball games.  So, this visit to NBA Cafe is really food and family induced.


Perhaps, I've seen a few clips or a basketball game.  But, never had I had the interest or patience to finish watching an entire basketball game (all four quarters).  Believe it or not, I was never even enticed to watch UAAP back in college.  The closest thing to watching a basketball game for me is to watch anime basketball series like Slam Dunk, Buzzer Beater and Kuroko No Basket.
 
It's not that I don't like the game, I just don't like to be an idle spectator.  So when it comes to NBA, I don't watch the basketball game itself but playing the NBA Live video game with my siblings on our Sega Mega Drive, SNES and Playstations is something I really enjoyed during my childhood.  

Seeing the NBA memoriabilias like authographed basketballs...

and NBA posters reminded me of my childhood days when I played basketball as a leisure.  We actually have two half courts in our house which we haven't used for years!  I used to play the 3-2-1 shooting game and half-court basketball game with my little sisters and my big brother's classmates whenever they'd drop by.  Those were fun times!  The last time I played basketball was during my first year college when we were forced to take it as PE and I don't recall it to be as fun... 

There were also toys which includes my all-time favorite NBA player: Michael Jordan. =)  

As expected, the set up is similar to a sports bar.  This one is the biggest and grandest I've encounter yet.  It has a huge screen that I'm sure game watchers would love.

The wall of basketball jersey is a cool colorful display.


I'm really impressed with the interiors as even the benches is textured like a basketball.

Food

Soup

Ale, wisconsin cheddar, cauliflower soup (175 php)

The Ale, wisconsin cheddar, cauliflower soup is an interesting cream soup and it has bacon it is which is a plus.

Salad

♥ Roasted Mushrooms (300 php)

The Roasted Mushrooms along with the caramelized onions, arugula, mascarpone cheese, carrot in  truffle vinaigrette is superb!

Mains

Beer battered fish and chips (320 php)

The Beer battered fish and chips is served with hand-cut triple cooked kenebec fries, tartar sauce and coleslaw.  The family enjoyed this especially the fries. 
 

♥ Lemon brined roasted chicken (450 php)

The Lemon brined roasted chicken  laid on a bed of mashed potato embellished with succotash.  It comes with parsley gravy which is delicious!  
 

♥ Baby back pork ribs (1120 php/whole)

When you order the Baby back pork ribs, you can choose between sweet kansas bbq sauce or spicy texas bbq sauce to be rubbed.  We chose the former.   You will still get both as extra sauce.  Both are very flavorful.  I personally prefer the spicy texas bbq sauce. It is also served with corn, sauteed vegetables and dried sweet potato chips.  The ribs were very tender and moist... almost fall of the bone but not quite so.

Burgers

Cheese burger (385 php)

The Cheese burger is a good one with gruyere cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, sliced dill pickles, and truffle aioli.  The truffle aioli made this more than the typical cheese burger for me.  

Tsinoy Foodies Verdict
All my expectation of NBA Cafe was met.  NBA fanatics will love the interiors plus the big screen to watch the NBA games.  While, non-fanatics like me will still appreciate displays and good food.  We're really lucky to have the only NBA Cafe in the world.  As of my posting NBA City restaurant in Orlando has closed down.  The price being reasonable, I really can't find any reason to pass up the chance of experiencing dining here. 

Todd English Food Hall has been hyped when it arrived.  My siblings were one of the many eager beavers who lined up just to try it but not me... I'm once again the last with the bandwagon.


I thought the big signage with clear glass window was the entrance... Only to find out from my little sisters that it was the exit. 
 
The real entrance is located at the side where waiting seats are placed.  Everyone is listening attentively as their name will only be called thrice before moving on to the next.  There were no microphones nor do they text so I suggest that you patiently stay put of you'll miss your turn like we did.  Boo! :( 
By the time we were relisted, called and ushers to our table, we were all so hungry that we just ordered everything our server suggested.

While waiting for our orders, I can't help but observe how cool and modern the interiors were.

There's a raw area by the side which many don't seem to notice.  Although it's a food hall, this one seems more formal.  Everyone was seated and no one bothers getting off their seat to notice the surroundings.

This seemed famous based on the online photos.

We forgot to try their macarons...

We loved the playfulness they did with the colorful pasta.

Agree with the quote?

Food

Signature Pasta 

♥ Brooklyn Style Meatball Spaghetti (330 php)

I've never gone crazy for a spaghetti.... that is before I've tried the Brooklyn Style Meatball Spaghetti.


The Grill

♥ T.E Slider (390 php)

The T.E Slider may look simple but it's the X factor because of its tasty beef pattie.


Mainss

♥ T.E Half Chicken (320 php)

The T.E Half Chicken is hands down the best among all our orders!  Don't miss this!

♥ T.E Half Pork Chop (440 php)

The T.E Half Pork Chop is a 48-hou brined pork chop.  It was pretty good.  It was tender and succulent.

T.E Two Way Duck (650 php)

The T.E Two Way Duck was good enough for me.  But, the family found some parts too rubbery.  You could skip this as the T.E Half Chicken is more worth it.

Salads

Spinach Salad (290 php)

Looking for something healthy and delicious?  Well, the Spinach Salad is almost healthy with the spinach, tomatoes, cranberry, peach, fried onion save for the bacon balsamic dressing - but trust me this is worth the guilt.


Flatbread

♥ Cheese Crispy Eggplant (460 php)

The Cheese Crispy Eggplant didn't look visually appealing for me.  But, this is so good that it made me appreciate flat breads even more.


Tsinoy Foodies Verdict
Todd English Food Hall has lived up to my high expectations.  Pricing perhaps is New York standards but worth the experience.