Amira Arasteh

…according to John Li, 34. Some of London’s best street eats are made by amateurs ‘I’m not a chef. I was working in a bank and just wanted a weekend hobby. In fact, I had no experience making dumplings – it was just that no one was selling them at London’s food markets, so I started Dumpling Shack. It’s not just me who turned around to do this: Mandy from Sambal Shiok used to be a lawyer and now makes the best laksa around.’ Slinging dumplings takes a thick skin ‘This is a passion project. It has to be, as I’m here seven days a week.  You’re not going to please everyone, and you do get people who don’t love the food. I used to ignore bad reviews – I’m pretty sensitive about that stuff. But it’s a business and you have to take the rough with the smooth. Besides, seeing people love your food is incredible.’ Rain is a trader’s worst enemy ‘We make the dumplings fresh, so we have to make everything on the spot and then clear down at the end of the day. If it’s a rainy day, you still have to be there all day. And with street food, when it rains, people disappear and you have to throw a lot of stock away. It’s heartbreaking.’ Londoners are incredibly fickle ‘One minute people want cronuts; the next, it’s all about the freakshake! Trends come and go, and that did scare me about opening seven days a week at Spitalfields: I wasn’t sure if we were just a weekend hype thing. We just have to keep believing that we’ve gone past the trend phase. You need to create something that people thi

…according to Tauland Babi, 33. If you can’t stand the heat… don’t worry, you’ll get used to it ‘As kitchen porters, we work in a small space with a few dishwashers on all the time. It gets quite warm in there, and it was a shock at first, but when you’re working full-time it becomes familiar. At least we’re not running about like the servers! ’ London diners don’t seem fussed about food waste ‘Being in the pot wash, you see all the waiters bringing down guests’ plates with leftover food. All the waste is separated and recycled here,  which is good, but it’s shocking to see what people can’t eat because they’ve over-ordered or got too full too quickly.’ London restaurant kitchens are a microcosm of the multicultural city ‘Before working here at Sticks’n’Sushi, I wouldn’t have known how to approach certain cultures. But I now understand how to communicate with people based on where they’re from, because there are so many cultures and nationalities here. Working in a sushi restaurant, we have to learn a bit of Japanese on the side too.’ Loads of people can’t use chopsticks ‘We have alternative cutlery for people who aren’t good at using chopsticks, but it is funny to see how many guests need to use it throughout the shift. I always find out, because waiters regularly come down to see if I can wash up some more cutlery quickly for a guest!’ Waiters do whatever it takes to keep going through long shifts ‘There’s one member of staff who comes down to the pot wash and sings Italian