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  • Harry: From calorie count to portion sizes,

  • we wanted to find out all the differences

  • between Halal Guys in the UK and the US.

  • This is "Food Wars."

  • In the UK, you can get your order in three portion sizes.

  • As a small platter,

  • as a regular platter,

  • or as a sandwich.

  • The Halal Guys in the US, your order can come

  • in three sizes: small, regular, sandwich.

  • We're going to weigh a regular platter in both countries

  • to see whose is the biggest.

  • [beep]

  • It's been so many episodes.

  • Why don't we just get bigger scales?

  • Bear with us one second.

  • [elevator music plays]

  • First half is about 337 grams.

  • 337 plus 321,

  • six

  • five

  • eight?

  • Quick maths.

  • This thing, we need to wash this thing.

  • It's getting funky in here.

  • Here we go, the regular.

  • Whoa, fits in perfectly.

  • 640.

  • 640 grams. That's a full meal.

  • Oh, man, this smells so good.

  • Fries in the UK only come in one portion size,

  • this one.

  • In the US, The Halal Guys also only have one size fries.

  • Look at this case. Have you seen this?

  • Do you think it's to keep them crispy,

  • so they don't get soggy?

  • Very smart. Very innovative.

  • I want to eat this so badly.

  • We gotta weigh it first.

  • This could be another brick.

  • [fries plop onto scale]

  • Ayy.

  • So, a side of fries from a UK Halal Guys

  • came to 213 grams.

  • Wait. Oh, yeah, OK. Yeah.

  • 145 grams for one size

  • of Halal Guys fries.

  • Oh, yeah. Yo. I've never gotten the fries.

  • These are good! Crispy.

  • Don't sleep on the Halal Guys fries.

  • In the UK, a side of hummus only comes in one size,

  • and it's this one right here.

  • In the US of A,

  • Halal Guys hummus only comes in one size,

  • and, of course, we are going to weigh it.

  • Harry: So, our side order of hummus came in

  • at 246 grams.

  • I'm going to eat all of this

  • as soon as the cameras stop rolling.

  • A side order of baba ghanoush in the UK

  • only comes in one size as well.

  • Joe: In the US, the baba ghanoush at The Halal Guys

  • is also just one size.

  • In the UK, you can get a side of falafel,

  • and it comes as a two-piece serving.

  • We did ask for some, but I think the guy forgot,

  • so we don't have any to show you.

  • In the US at The Halal Guys, you can get

  • your falafel in three sizes:

  • two pieces, four pieces, or six pieces.

  • We can also get falafel sandwiches.

  • Let's take some measurements.

  • Our falafel sandwich is 8 inches in diameter.

  • And for the moment you've all been waiting for,

  • we're going to measure the girth.

  • The tape measurer is really not fit to task.

  • Actually, that's going to work.

  • And our falafel sandwich has a girth of,

  • let's say, 7-and-a-bit inches.

  • From pita to pita,

  • 8 inches? Yeah?

  • Oh, look at that!

  • And it's 8 inches thick.

  • 8 and 8.

  • I like when things are just precise like that.

  • Harry: And, finally, it weighs 286 grams.

  • And a falafel sandwich at the US Halal Guys

  • weighs

  • like, exactly --

  • [burps] Excuse me.

  • Exactly 250 grams.

  • In the UK, if you want dessert

  • at Halal Guys, you can get baklava.

  • It comes in a two-piece serving.

  • Halal Guys in the US, the baklava

  • comes in one size, in this one piece.

  • This piece right here.

  • Oops, I ordered two!

  • I guess I'll just have to eat one.

  • Who am I kidding? I'm eating both of these.

  • Unfortunately, Halal Guys doesn't make

  • its nutritional information available

  • for its UK products.

  • We did find some in the store,

  • and, luckily, I took a picture.

  • From this, we now know that the sandwiches

  • range anywhere from 419 calories to 694 calories,

  • and the platters range anywhere from 471 calories

  • to 1,049 calories.

  • It's fairly safe to assume that

  • the 1,049-calorie platter is probably

  • one of the meat ones with all of the sides,

  • all of the sauces, pretty much everything you can get.

  • 1,049 calories will take you to just over

  • half of your normal daily allowance.

  • The combo platter is said to be

  • Halal Guys' most popular menu item.

  • This is a regular combo platter

  • before any white or red sauce has been added.

  • I would recommend not eating it until it is added.

  • That's just me.

  • Our regular combo platter is 794 calories,

  • 23 grams of fat, 10 grams of saturated fat,

  • 1,998 milligrams of sodium,

  • which I believe is 86% of your daily intake,

  • and also 96 grams of carbs.

  • Of course we're adding white and red sauces, right?

  • OK.

  • The white sauce pouch.

  • One of these is roughly 330 calories,

  • 37 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat,

  • 420 milligrams of sodium.

  • 420. [bell dings]

  • And 2 grams of carbs.

  • See this guy right here?

  • Each package of their hot sauce adds only 7 calories,

  • but 89 milligrams of sodium.

  • Let's talk about the red sauce.

  • Now, according to the Halal Guys website,

  • their red sauce ranges from between

  • 100,000 to 130,000 on the Scoville scale.

  • To put that in perspective,

  • sriracha is somewhere around 2,500

  • on the same scale,

  • and the infamous "Hot Ones" Da Bomb sauce

  • is around 135,000.

  • So pretty close to this.

  • Halal Guys has something called

  • the Hot Sauce Challenge.

  • What it is, is a small platter

  • with 20 lines of their hot sauce,

  • and you've got to be able to eat

  • the whole thing in 10 minutes

  • with no assistance of any beverages,

  • not only during while you're eating it,

  • but also five minutes after.

  • Sorry, what are we doing?

  • So, one, two --

  • It's times like this where you're like,

  • "I should have a will written, just in case."

  • That's four. Oh, my God.

  • If I don't make it out of this,

  • someone tell my cat that I love him.

  • 20. I'll just put this whole thing in there.

  • [laughs]

  • This is such a bad idea.

  • Yeah.

  • All right.

  • [ominous music plays]

  • Whoa. Yo!

  • [coughs]

  • Oh, my God. This stuff is really hot.

  • Oh, man. I'm getting a metallic taste in my mouth,

  • like my mouth might be bleeding.

  • [laughs]

  • [coughs]

  • OK. Yep, that's immediately spicy.

  • No slow burn here.

  • Oh, God.

  • This was a mistake.

  • [coughs]

  • It's, like, really good, dude.

  • Oh, God. More.

  • How long's it been?

  • [cry-laughs]

  • OK, OK. I think I can manage this.

  • [laughs]

  • My eyes are watering.

  • The throat is hurting.

  • [clears throat]

  • This is really hot.

  • My tongue, back of the mouth, everything.

  • [pounding]

  • No way I'm lasting five minutes.

  • I'm breaking early. God.

  • [steam hisses]

  • I'm throwing in the towel. I can't do it.

  • Producer: Yeah? Joe: Yeah. Holy s---.

  • How long was that?

  • Producer: Three minutes and 10 seconds.

  • See, Nando's? That is spice.

  • If you advertise something as spicy, at least deliver.

  • And that's what Halal Guys have done.

  • [production crew laughing]

  • Whew!

  • People who build up tolerance

  • in their mouth for spice,

  • they also have the tolerance for it going out.

  • Because the worst thing about spicy food

  • for me is -- the second worst is eating it.

  • The first worst is --

  • it'll be about in five hours.

  • Speaking of which.

  • It would have been smarter to do this

  • at the end of the shoot.

  • Now, if you were to go with the falafel sandwich

  • in the US, it would be 641 calories,

  • 26 grams of fat, 4 grams of saturated fat,

  • 1,259 milligrams of sodium,

  • and 82 grams of carbs.

  • [pants]

  • Currently, Halal Guys don't provide that much

  • information when it comes to the ingredients

  • of their meats and rices.

  • What we do know, as you can imagine,

  • is that Halal Guys' food is, indeed, halal certified.

  • The Halal Guys chicken recipe is a secret.

  • So we assume, similar to other Middle Eastern street meats,

  • it is marinated in herbs, lemon,

  • olive oil, salt, and pepper.

  • I got all of this info from

  • the Halal Guys "Legendary Eats" story

  • we did about a year ago,

  • so thank you to those producers for doing my homework.

  • The beef is also a secret recipe,

  • but from what we know, it's likely to be flavored

  • with things like salt, pepper, oregano, and paprika.

  • But The Halal Guys can't be tight-lipped on their sauces

  • now that they're available for retail.

  • So the hot sauce in the US, and assuming the UK,

  • ingredients are ground red pepper, vinegar,

  • salt, various spices,

  • question mark, question mark, question mark?

  • And concentrated lemon juice.

  • White sauce: soybean oil, water, egg yolk,

  • distilled vinegar, less than 2% of

  • salt, sugar, spices, natural flavors,

  • xanthan gum, sodium benzoate,

  • and calcium

  • disodium EDTA,

  • or "ed-ta,"

  • to maintain freshness.

  • Contains eggs.

  • According to the white sauce packets,

  • it contains soybean oil, water, egg,

  • spirit vinegar, salt, sugar, pepper,

  • preservative potassium sorbate,

  • thickener xanthan gum,

  • mustard,

  • antioxidant calcium disodium EDTA,

  • and natural flavoring.

  • For the Halal Guys pita bread,

  • I had to do some deep investigative journalism.

  • Specifically, I called The Halal Guys in downtown LA,

  • and they told me that the pitas they use are these:

  • Kontos Gyro Bread Pre-Oiled.

  • Is this the pita breads they use for

  • all Halal Guys?

  • I called and emailed Kontos,

  • and they did not get back to me.

  • Guys, what's the story?

  • So I'm gonna assume that they do.

  • So this pita contains unbleached,

  • unbrom, bromated, no.

  • Unbleached, unbromated, enriched flour,

  • niacin (B-complex vitamin),

  • thiamine (B1 vitamin),

  • reduced iron, riboflavin (B2 vitamin),

  • folic acid, water, and soybean oil,

  • and contains 2% or less of the following ingredients:

  • calcium propionate (a preservative),

  • corn syrup solids. OK.

  • Fumaric acid, guar gum, salt, sesame flour,

  • sodium bicarbonate, sorbic acid (a preservative),

  • soy flour, sugar, vegetable mono- and diglycerides,

  • vegetable L-cysteine, wheat enzymes,

  • whole-wheat flour, and yeast.

  • One thing to look out for there

  • is the fumaric acid that they use.

  • While this is practically nontoxic

  • because the amounts in our food are very small,

  • the European Union does say that in high doses,

  • this can be nephrotoxic,

  • which is toxic to your kidneys.

  • So you might want to go easy on the pitas.

  • One thing we found out just by purchasing the product

  • is that the baklava in the UK actually contains

  • some questionable food colorings.

  • The first is Blue 1, also known as Brilliant Blue.

  • This is kind of hard to come by in the UK,

  • as it's just fallen out of favor

  • thanks to the Smarties controversy.

  • Blue 1 used to be the blue coloring

  • used in Smarties in the UK.

  • However, it was removed after there was a panic

  • about it potentially causing hyperactivity in children.

  • It famously took Smarties years to come up

  • with a natural replacement for the blue coloring.

  • They finally settled on spirulina,

  • which is made from seaweed.

  • On a not unrelated note, there's also Yellow 5 in here,

  • also known as tartrazine.

  • Yellow 5 is one of the chemicals highlighted

  • by a 2007 study investigating links between

  • food colorings and hyperactivity in children.

  • The initial results did seem to show a link

  • between the two; however, since then,

  • people have backtracked and said that

  • further study may be required.

  • Despite that, foods containing these chemicals

  • in the European Union must still bear a warning

  • that they may have an adverse effect

  • on attention in children.

  • We don't see a warning on this box, so Halal Guys,

  • you might want to update your packaging.

  • [baklava crunches]

  • Here is everything you will only find

  • on the menu at a UK Halal Guys.

  • Here are the exclusives you can get in the USA.

  • Yeah, believe it or not, this is probably

  • our shortest exclusive section ever.

  • All the things you can only find on the menu in the UK

  • are an orange Fanta or a lemon Fanta.

  • I'm assuming you guys do have Fanta in the US,

  • but for me, obviously, Fanta orange is the classic.

  • However, Fanta lemon, absolutely amazing.

  • For some reason it's not super common in the UK,

  • but if you go into mainland Europe,

  • particularly slightly hotter places like Spain or Greece,

  • this is kind of everywhere.

  • So for me, it just brings back memories of, like,

  • being on a beach bar with my family,

  • sipping a Fanta lemon, having a great time.

  • So, forgive me if I'm wrong.

  • I didn't see this anywhere

  • on the Halal Guys London menus.

  • It is 16.9 fluid ounces of the white sauce.

  • Look how big this is.

  • This is hilarious.

  • Ugh. Side of olives.

  • Oh, you can also get a side of jalapeños.

  • If the hot sauce wasn't hot enough, here you go.

  • You can also get yourself a side of tahini.

  • For desserts, you can also get Halal Guys cookies.

  • That's pretty much it.

  • I'm going to go and lie down, because hot sauce

  • is a terrible invention. Cheers.

  • You know why this is trouble, though?

  • Because it still tastes really good.

  • I mean [laughs], I'm a glutton for punishment.

Harry: From calorie count to portion sizes,

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