Halo Burger Review

While a puppy isn’t just for Christmas, a plant based menu isn’t just for Veganuary. As Feb 1st rolls around, the carnivorous vegan dabblers are out looking for a feast, like werewolves on a full moon, drooling for their first meat of 2020.

At On In London, we enjoyed some of the plant based offerings January had to offer so much, we wanted more! Our new diet of ‘eating less meat’ had left us feeling hungry for something naughty so we headed on down to Shoreditch’s latest vegan junk food offering, Halo Burger. This being their second branch, after their successful first opening in Brixton.

Nestled between the kebab and chicken shops of Old Street lies what could be mistaken as another generic grease based establishment. Inside, the style is of an American fast food joint with red diner-esque seats set against white tiles.

Our excitement gathers momentum as we peruse the menu above the head of the cashier, the photo’s presenting just the kind of devilish, cheese drenched burgers we had in mind. With help choosing from the friendly cashier, we took a seat and giddily awaited.

Our experience with vegan burgers is that despite flavour, they can often lack that texture and bite of the real thing. Halo’s Smoky Carolina BBQ Burger felt advanced. Firstly it looked the part, a thick patty, dressed with perfectly melted gouda style cheese and enough extra toppings to make you eye it devilishly. The flavour delivered, sweet smoky BBQ sauce and a crunch of crispy (battered) onion.

The Signature Halo burger, although in our opinion out ranked by the Carolina, was still weighty, cheesy and a triumph. Although the latter may have lacked the bite of a meat based burger, it’s best accessory was the cheese. In fact all three we tried (yes we sneaked in a quarter pounder as well) the cheese was as melty and rich as the real thing which vegan cheese often lacks. Halo Burger we praise you for this!

It wasn’t just the burgers that impressed. The THISTMIsn’t chicken nuggets had the bite of the real thing, and had possibly the best texture of a plant based nugget we’ve tried to date. The “don’t have a cow fries” with melted cheese, caramelised onion and special sauce were as naughty as they were tasty, and we greedily devoured them.

We left Halo feeling all the usual guilt and shame as you would any dirty burger joint, and that’s why we loved it. Vegans – you lucky creatures!

Website: https://haloburger.co.uk

Written by Rick Hartley