Alina Gromova-Jones
I am so pleased to have caught up with the lovely Alina Gromova-Jones: founder of the insanely delicious and super cool plant-based and plastic-free eatery KOJO in Hampstead. If you have not tried KOJO before, you absolutely must now!!
What are your bag essentials?
It depends on the size of my handbag, its recently been very small so I carry around house keys, biodegradable wet wipes, hand sanitiser, Glossier lip balm (no lipstick as it comes off on my mask), my U mask, OH MY GUM! In cinnamon and energy balls from KOJO.
What is your favourite holiday destination?
Hong Kong! I love that you can go to the beach in the morning, go for a hike in the afternoon, and hit the city for the evening! It just keeps calling me back!
OH MY GUM! in cinnamon - one of Alina’s bag essentials
What is your perfect Saturday/Sunday?
I typically work on a Saturday but I love my job so much it never feels like work. On a Sunday, my husband and I enjoy walking into London, and we sometimes walk up to 20,000 steps! We are definitely enjoying walking in London when there aren’t as many people around at the moment, we keep our phones in our pockets and share ideas and stories from our week with each other about Plus Sunday is pizza/pasta night!
What are you watching and/or reading at the moment?
Watching: We really enjoy those moments when we can chill on the sofa and watch something on TV since we don’t get many moments like that. I love documentaries like Seaspiracy because I feel that I wouldn’t have been educated about this topic otherwise with my very full schedule. But we’ve loved watching Family Business on Netflix, it is French so we watched with subtitles, but it’s worth it! It’s so funny!
Reading: I recently finished reading The Male Brain, it has enlightened me about how to better communicate with the males in my team, it is true that men and women’s brains work differently and how we should respect these differences. Reading it showed me how to effectively get my point across and be heard when on the odd occasion, I am the only female in a meeting.
Alina is the founder of the amazing plant-based eatery KOJO in Hampstead, London
What is your dream 3 course meal?
To start, I love having fresh zesty salads, I adore ripe juicy tomatoes. Then I’d say a bean patty plant-based burger, with lots of avocado, spicy harissa and crispy potato fries with plant-based mayo. For dessert, I would have vegan tiramisu. Mmm I’m feeling hungry, do you feel hungry?
What easy eco-friendly swap do you highly recommend?
Nowadays its so easy to swap your everyday essentials, from metal straws, cotton bags and plastic-free chewing gum to non-toxic cleaning products and even biodegradable hairbrushes and phone cases!
OH MY GUM! in mint or cinnamon?
I love chai lattes and golden milks, so cinnamon!
What should be our next flavour?
We use a lot of yuzu (from the citrus family) in our cooking at KOJO and I love its fresh flavour, so I would say yuzu! Or even lemongrass!