Simon Tarlington has been appointed executive chef at Jackalope Hotel’s Doot Doot Doot restaurant in the Mornington Peninsula.
Tarlington has taken over from Guy Stanaway, who finished up at the restaurant after five years.
The new chef joins after recent stints at Paringa Estate in South Victoria and The Highline at the Railway Hotel in Melbourne.
He has also worked under leading local and international chefs including Quay’s Peter Gilmore, Clare Smyth and Jason Atherton.
Tarlington has been hard at work designing new tasting and a la menus alongside snacks and sides.
The chef says he will be celebrating “Australian culture as much as possible” and utilise local ingredients.
“The Mornington Peninsula is rich in produce – it can stand up as both a blank canvas and a standalone hero ingredient,” he says. “That is rare, and it makes the region really inspiring and exciting to work in.”
New additions to the menu include sea urchin custard with salmon dashi, pickled salmon roe, horseradish tofu and compressed apple alongside a pumpkin and macadamia pie with Jimmy Rum Silver and raisin ice cream and pumpkin seed oil.
Doot Doot Doot is open seven nights a week for dinner from 6pm.