Chef’s videos making lunch boxes for mate goes viral on TikTok

When former MasterChef contestant Khanh Ong moved in with an old mate, the pair never thought the topic of lunch would see them become viral sensations.

He’s a former MasterChef contestant, DJ and now co-owner of a hip Melbourne restaurant – but the thing that has sent Khanh Ong viral on social media is none of those things. It is, instead, his lunch boxes.

When the culinary guru moved in with old high school friend Mickey Milan after Melbourne’s lockdown, the pair loved the idea of kicking back in a joint bachelor pad.

But when the friends decided to jet off to Europe for a holiday, they wanted to get healthy so they would look their best for the trip.

And that’s where the lunch boxes come in.

“I asked Mickey what he had for lunch, as we’d never been across that,” Khanh told news.com.au. “And he was like, ‘Oh, I usually order KFC or I get like a schnitzel burger, or whatever.’”

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Former MasterChef contestant Khanh Ong moved in with his high school friend Mickey Milan after Melbourne’s lockdown.

The duo agreed it wasn’t the healthiest of food choices, so Khanh put on his chef’s hat and started making his mate lunch boxes every day.

“With all parts of my life, whatever I do, I film it for my social media,” the 29-year-old said. “So that is pretty much how it all began.”

Every day that Khanh is able to (not at the moment though as he’s currently on the road filming a new show Wild Food) he makes Mickey a lunch box that he can take to work. It then gets uploaded to TikTok.

But the foodie doesn’t just pack his mate a daily Vegemite sandwich and an apple – he whips up gourmet meals that are both healthy and delicious.

Khanh, co-owner of Melbourne bar and restaurant The George on Collins, has always enjoyed compartmentalised food – YouTube videos of school lunches, hospital food and even prison meals feature large in his frequently watched clips.

And he believes it is something all adults share, as the compartments of a lunch box bring out that sense of nostalgia.

“It’s something we can all connect with. We’ve all had lunch boxes, we’ve all kind of been teased for our lunch boxes, or like we’ve had feelings towards lunch boxes at some point in our life,” he said.

“So that’s kind of the whole reason why, even with the comments, I come back and I go, you can’t judge other people’s food.”

For Mickey, Khanh prepares two boxes – a hot box and a cold box.

The cold box is the quickest to prepare and always features a sandwich of some sort as well as other snacks to graze on. And the hot box is a more substantial meal – and does take longer to prepare – but Khanh said it’s all about keeping it interesting. It just has to be something you enjoy eating that doesn’t require too much effort.

A lot of the comments on the clips ask Khanh where he gets his inspiration.

“People often say they can’t do it, but you can. The cold box is just cut up fruit and vegetables, with some snacks, with something more substantial like a sandwich; It takes 10 minutes,” he said.

One of Mickey’s favourite sandwiches is a French baguette with brie, ham, mustard, rocket and sweet jam, but that doesn’t mean he gets it every day. In fact, the pair are fairly certain Khanh has never made the same meal twice.

Khanh said he won’t reveal how he cuts the sandwiches with an assortment of objects. Picture: TikTok/@khanhong

“Food is fun, right? So I get bored really easily with every aspect of my life, including the way that I cook,” Khanh said.

“Mickey even says that. He’s like, ‘I don’t actually think I’ve had the same meal twice over the last 18 months.’

“It’s always going to be something a little bit different in there, just to change it up. Because I think that’s the fun of it.”

The videos often reach half a million views, with thousands of comments and questions about what Khanh makes.

And one quirky feature of the videos is often a big topic of conversation among viewers – the fact Khanh never uses a knife to cut Mickey’s sandwiches.

He’s used everything from a piece of chocolate, toothpaste tube and – Khanh’s proudest achievement – his pearl necklace.

But, Khanh, who also appeared on Survivor, said he’d never share just how he did it, calling it a “trade secret”.

No two lunch boxes are ever quite the same. Picture: TikTok/@khanhong

He is also particularly proud of his egg burger invention – a hard-boiled egg halved with sandwich fillings inside.

Khanh added it’s surprisingly tricky to cut a hard-boiled egg without it falling apart.

But largely, he said he isn’t doing anything revolutionary with the lunch box creations. The key, according to the chef, is to make sure it gets eaten. Which means getting input from the person you are making it for.

“Dietaries are important to me,” Khanh said. “What people’s likes and dislikes are, are really important. I think anyone who cooks for people would understand that.

“So the feedback Mickey gives me, I take on fully. So he doesn’t like tomatoes. Tomatoes don’t go in, but then don’t swap out the tomatoes for chocolate. I’ll swap it out for something like capsicum, which he does like.

“You can change the way the lunch box works, but don’t change the food group that it’s coming from,” he said.

Mickey now gets recognised on the street. Picture: Instagram

The lunch boxes are a hit on TikTok. Picture: TikTok/@khanhong

When the friends moved in together, they never expected their main topic of conversation would be lunch boxes.

But now they are even discussing lunch boxes on Khanh’s podcast, Feast.

And Mickey now gets recognised on the street after he started popping up in the clips.

A question the pair always get asked by fans is, who foots the bill for the groceries?

Khanh said it’s generally whoever happens to be out at the time, but the pair have been known to play a game where, when the bill comes, whoever guesses the closest to the total doesn’t have to pay.