Kar-Shing Tong began as another hungry punter looking for a more fulfilling lunch of a Thursday. Then this finance whizz started helping us out at events in his spare time, carrying chairs and moving the KERB letters around, etc. Meanwhile, he discovered Instagram and a growing audience to look on in amazement at this insatiable appetite. 

Since last year, Kar-Shing has combined his love of KERB lunches with his love of snapping them by being our resident Instagrammer at the Gherkin. (Beady-eyed lunchers will spot him arranging the day’s haul nearby into a classic IG shot).

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As we come up to four years trading outside this iconic building every Thursday, he tells us about his love of the London street food game:

I started to get involved in the food world around 2012; I’d always eaten out a lot but never really engaged with the community. The discovery of Twitter gave me the median to do so and through that, I met a lot of people I now consider to be friends; some are my best.

Restaurants were great but I was always drawn to street food. With its casual nature and price point which made it accessible to everyone, it was the cool, hip, younger sibling to your more mature brick and mortar scene.
 
Because of its nature, street food attracted a lot of people with their unique characteristics, personalities and backgrounds but they all bonded over their commitment to the markets come rain or shine and through that, they all became family. Once I was adopted, I knew there was no getting out but not that I would; I have loved seeing the street food game get continually elevated the past few years and I’m excited to see where it will go and I’m also excited to see where the traders go.
 
But for me, this has always been a hobby; a release of sorts from a mundane life in the City. But for years now I’ve wondered if I could take the leap and live in this world permanently; each day I become a little bit more convinced I can…
Follow @ks_ate_here to see if he makes the leap.
(Petra Barran)