In my kitchen... with Johnon Macdonald and Kat Strand of Koji restaurant

Johnon Macdonald and Kat Strand of Koji restaurant. Photo / Supplied

Wellington's Koji restaurant is the creation of Johnon Macdonald and Kat Strand and is all about taking classic Asian flavours, using beautiful New Zealand produce and making as much as possible from scratch.

New additions to the menu continue to pop up as they travel the country sourcing the best produce, meeting growers and suppliers and bringing it back to create fun and playful dishes. We find out more about what this duo do when they're not working at their buzzing Welly eatery.

12 Majoribanks Street, Mount Victoria, Wellington. Website: kojirestaurant.co.nz
 
I would describe our home kitchen as... We are currently renting on the Kapiti coast at Waikanae Beach; we have a cute beach house with a small but versatile kitchen. Currently the induction stovetop is broken so we are cooking for a family of four off a portable electric hob - so mostly one-pot wonders now, although we pulled off some delicious prawn okonomiyaki and our boys loved it.

To turn it into a dream kitchen... Well as above, I think we could definitely make a few changes, however, we will wait till we build our own house. Bigger pantry, more storage space, a dark cupboard dedicated to our kombucha brews, kimchi and other ferments we like to play with.

Something you'll always find our fridge is... Definitely pickles, you can't ever go without pickles!

Some of our pantry staples are... Hot sauce, pasta, rice, and an endless selection of Asian sauces and spices. We love to have lots of stuff to play with and find spices and Asian sauces make it easy to quickly throw something together for a young family at the same time as making it delicious.

Our favourite ingredient to cook with is... Can we have two? Garlic and great natural sea salt. Garlic is so versatile: raw, fried, slow-roasted etc, packs so much flavour and keeps the immune system strong. We use a lot. And you can't not have a good sea salt; it brings out the best in every flavour.

The dishes we most love to make are... We've got a smoker out on the front deck that we use all the time, we love smoking butterflied chickens or brisket, it's a great way to have a good beer or glass of wine in the sun while the smoker does its work.

Our go-to meal in a hurry is... pasta for sure. I'd hate to think how much pasta our boys consume - they absolutely love it. It's easy to create different dishes and you can put it together in 15 minutes.

Our drink of choice is... There's no one go-to; clean crisp beers in the sun after going spearfishing, a delicious rosé or chardonnay if we are just chilling out on the front deck, or a Martinborough pinot for when it's cold outside and we are sitting around the fire.

Something unexpected we make from scratch is... cider, ginger beer, kombucha, kimchi, sauerkraut, sourdough bread, hummus chickweed pesto. We could keep going but those are the staples.

We cook at home... Pretty much every night at least one of us is cooking, unless we go to family or a friends' place for dinner.

The kitchen gadget everyone should own is... A decent coffee machine and grinder. It makes such a difference to wake up and enjoy a well-made espresso.

What is your food philosophy... Creating big flavour bombs that excite the palate and get people excited.

Wellington on a Plate starts today. See the full line up of eateries taking part at visawoap.com