Teeny tiny and devoid of frills such as seating, this hive of activity has room only for the three dynamos who heroically do their best to keep up with demand from the patrons who mill about on the pavement outside, waiting for their number to be called. The trio take their time to prepare your HSP, but you are rewarded with a pack so massive there’s no hope of closing the lid to keep the lamb from springing out. Each layer, from crisp chip base through to moist cheese-and-meat layer to generous sauces is greasetastic. And the cooling garlic sauce would tempt even the most devout vampire.
Halal Snack Packs (HSPs) have gained some serious profile of late, not least through Pauline Hanson’s rejection of Labor's Sam Dastyari invitation to partake of one with a curt, "not happening. Not interested in Halal, thank you.". But the HSP was a gastronomic phenomenon long before Hanson’s snub, as is proven by the existence of the 145,000-member-strong Halal Snack Pack Appreciation Society Facebook group whose mission statement is about "sharing great snack pack stories and discussing possible best snack pack in world [sic]”.
This meal box, in all its raunchy, meaty, saucy glory, has never been more in vogue.
Available mainly at kebab shops, and beloved by ravenous school boys and the inebriated, an HSP consists of a styrofoam box filled with hot chips topped with melted grated cheese, kebab meat (take your pick of one or a combination) and the ‘holy trinity’ of sauces: garlic, chilli and barbecue. As one savant observed, it’s like a kebab without the healthy stuff.
Using the Appreciation Society’s Facebook page as our key reference, we identified five popular purveyors of the HSP around Melbourne, sampled a snack pack from each and ranked them in descending order. (To ensure integrity of data, we chose the same combination from each: mixed meats, cheese and the holy trinity.)
