Review of The Halal Guys’ Plant-Based Options

Vegans rejoice! The Halal Guys recently unveiled several plant-based additions on their menu. The items will be available for a limited time only, so nab them while you still can!

The Halal Guys Houston were kind enough to hook us up with their plant-based menu items to review. We sampled their Meatless Gyro Sandwich, Meatless Gyro Platter, Plant-Based Tzatziki, and Eggplant Hummus. These items are available at participating locations nationwide.

Houston, Texas – Shepherd Location

The Halal Guys have six locations in the Houston area. We visited the Farnham location (3821 Farnham Street Houston, TX 77098). We arrived around 11:30 a.m., just before the lunchtime rush. A sign on the front door indicated that masks were required upon entry to the restaurant. Staff members, all of whom wore masks, were friendly and professional. We had ample outdoor seating to choose from.

Meatless Gyro Sandwich, Meatless Gyro Platter & Plant-Based Tzatziki

The meatless gyro “meat” is made with pea protein, brown rice, coconut oil, Halal Guys spice mix, beets, mushrooms, and paprika. It is soy-free and boasts 21 grams of protein per serving.

The Meatless Gyro Sandwich is composed of pita bread, meatless gyro meat, vegetables of your choosing, vegan tzatziki sauce, and hot sauce (optional). We topped our gyro with lettuce, tomato, onion, bell pepper, plant-based tzatziki, and hot sauce.

The Meatless Gyro Platter is meatless gyro meat served over a bed of rice, topped with vegetables of your choosing, and drizzled with vegan tzatziki and hot sauce (optional). We topped our Meatless Gyro Platter with lettuce, tomato, onion, bell pepper, pickled jalapeño peppers, and vegan tzatziki.

The Vegan Tzatziki Sauce is made with aquafaba and contained fresh cucumbers and dill.

VERDICT:

We absolutely loved these menu selections! The plant-based meat was flavorful, tender and juicy. You would be hard-pressed to tell the difference between the plant-based version from the real deal. The pita bread was soft and fluffy. The rice in the Meatless Gyro Platter was moist and seasoned well. The vegetables were fresh. The tzatziki was creamy and indistinguishable from traditional tzatziki.

Eggplant Hummus

The Eggplant Hummus is made from chickpeas mixed with tahini sauce, olive oil, lemon juice and spices. It comes with a small package of pita chips.

VERDICT:

The Eggplant Hummus was a delicious hummus-meets-baba ganoush hybrid. It was creamy and garlicky, and paired well with the pita chips. One critique is that we received too few pita chips. We probably had a dozen chips in our bag, which was inadequate to fully enjoy the serving of hummus given.

Conclusion

We are happy to report that The Halal Guys’ plant-based menu items, by and large, slapped! The plant-based additions were nearly indistinguishable from their animal product counterparts. Don’t get us wrong–we appreciate every instance a restaurant provides vegan options. However, those vegan options are all too often half-baked: you’re given a vegan burger on the menu, but no vegan condiments, mayo, or cheese. Scenarios like these put a damper on the dining experience and make the vegan menu options feel like afterthoughts. Not so with The Halal Guys’ offerings! It is clear that a lot of time and care went into developing their plant-based menu additions. The vegan tzatziki and eggplant hummus totally rounded out and completed our meals. Vegans appreciate a little TLC sometimes, too, you know?

Don’t forget: The Halal Guys’ plant-based additions are available for a limited time only. If you’re lucky enough to live near a participating location, go get you some! Maybe with enough generated sales, these items will become permanent fixtures on their menu! In which case, hallelujah!

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