Media Release
Located in the heart of Hobart’s historic Hunter Street waterfront district within The Henry Jones Art Hotel building, Peacock and Jones restaurant is the epitome of contemporary Tasmanian dining, combining a connection of place and history with some of the state’s best producers.
Head chef Ishan Acharya welcomes Ben Milbourne to the Peacock and Jones team as the new culinary curator. The restaurant’s new menu launching this week heroes seasonal local ingredients and stories of the people who grow them. Ben’s role drives that connection with Tasmania’s finest producers, whilst Ishan showcases the harvest with his sophisticated and artistic menus.
A former contestant on MasterChef Season 4 and MasterChef: Back to Win, Milbourne is best known as the host of the TV food series, Left Off the Map. Milbourne brings to his new role more than ten years of experience and passion building relationships with Tasmanian farmers, fishers, growers and makers, as well as working with some of the most experienced chefs in the business.
“It’s a really exciting partnership and one that sits perfectly with my ethos,” says Milbourne. “Tasmania has the best producers in the country and this is an opportunity to really elevate and celebrate their diversity at Peacock and Jones.”
“Our new menu not only features the produce, but also shares the incredible stories of the people who are dedicated to the quality and sustainability,” says Milbourne. “From Lyndall Farm lamb to Leap Farm curdy to Robbin’s Island Wagyu, Tassie’s absolute best is on the menu. Here we can literally have the produce harvested and on the plate that same night. It doesn’t get more special than that.”
Ishan Acharya brings extensive technical expertise and a love of working with local, quality ingredients to his role as head chef at Peacock and Jones. He spent 15 years honing his craft in Sydney, was previously senior sous chef at the two-hatted Bert’s Bar & Brasserie in Newport and two-hatted Sydney’s Bistro Moncur Woollahra as well as working at other iconic hatted institutions including The Bathers’ Pavilion and Pier.
“Our philosophy is simple – we are inspired by what grows here,” says Acharya. “We are blessed as chefs that we can jump into the car and see our producers pulling up vegetables, processing the goat milk or digging up our truffles”.
Acharya continues, “Ben has a clear love of his state and the incredible produce all around us. I’m very excited to be working together with Ben and the connections he’s forged, and I cannot wait for everyone to taste our new menu that delivers a special Tasmanian dining experience.”
The menu features an abundance of harvested produce from all ends of the state, which will change and adapt as dictated by the seasons and the bounty available. The labour of love by talented Tasmanian producers will be met with the respect it deserves in the Peacock and Jones kitchen.
Menu highlights include Charcoal calamari with ink emulsion, fennel cream and seafood cracker; Lyndall Farm lamb with fermented black barley, spinach and Leap Farm curdy; Strelleyfield free-range duck with radicchio and sweet potato, and Robbins Island rump cap mb7+ with wine merchant, smoked leek and ox tongue.
Set in the atrium of The Henry Jones Art Hotel, Peacock and Jones sits within a modern reimagining of the historic IXL Jam Factory. Heritage industrial machinery sits above the restaurant and the historic photos of factory workers adorn the walls. They’re connections to the bustling, booming business of jam-making that took place here, in the years when George Peacock and Henry Jones cooked and canned the fruits of Tasmanian gardens and orchards, sending their products to markets far and wide.
Diners are surrounded by connections to the many generations of people who have lived and worked here. The white flecks in the mortar between the sandstone walls are crushed shells from the middens of the Muwinina people, who lived on the shores of the bay for thousands of years before Europeans arrived. The chipped marks were made by the hammers and chisels of convict masons, who shaped the rock into the hand-hewn cubes that were the building blocks of the early colony. Peacock and Jones is proud to showcase the heritage of this remarkable place as it adds a contemporary chapter to the fascinating story.
The intimate 50-seat restaurant flows from tables inside to a light-filled atrium, separated by a glass wine cellar which can be seen from all perspectives – a gentle reminder that a great Tasmanian dish without a fine local wine is an unfulfilled experience.
About Peacock and Jones
Address: 33 Hunter Street, Hobart, TAS 7000
Opening Hours: Wednesday-Saturday, 6-9.30pm
Website: peacockandjones.com.au
Instagram: @peacockandjones
Facebook: facebook.com/PeacockandJones
About The Henry Jones Art Hotel
The Henry Jones Art Hotel is a fusion of history and modernity, art and design, indulgence and discovery. Australia’s first dedicated art hotel, the Henry Jones Art Hotel merges one of Tasmania’s most significant industrial heritage sites – H. Jones and Co. Pty. Ltd. IXL – with sleek design and contemporary Tasmanian artwork to create a sophisticated and deeply engaging accommodation experience on Hobart’s waterfront.
Peacock and Jones delivers a unique Tasmanian dining experience in one of Hobart’s most historic settings. For interstate visitors, Peacock and Jones is in prime location on the Hunter Street waterfront, only short 5-minute walk along from Salamanca and the Hobart CBD.
In November 2021, The Henry Jones Art Hotel was announced as winner of the Cultural Tourism category in the Tasmanian Tourism Awards.
