By Cara Waters
The cost-of-living crisis has not reached the exclusive Birdcage Enclosure at Flemington Racecourse as Grange and champagne are set to flow in the marquees when the Melbourne Cup carnival begins on Saturday.
The 2023 Cup highlights a two-track economy while the Birdcage increases its luxury status with newcomer Crown building a three-storey marquee – just slightly taller than the Lexus marquee – to vie for top spot in the trackside pecking order.
The Victoria Racing Club has also enlisted celebrity chef Curtis Stone to devise a Michelin-starred menu from his Los Angeles restaurant Gwen in a Birdcage dining room and to helm the club’s own Lucky’s marquee.
The $1700 cost of Lucky’s on Cup Day for a grazing menu and drinks has not put off racegoers – the marquee has sold out for this year’s carnival.
“We could have charged more,” the club’s chief executive, Steve Rosich, said at the Birdcage preview on Wednesday morning.
The club has also introduced a karaoke lounge to the enclosure and a speakeasy bar from Diageo behind a hidden door for which guests will be selected for entry by being “tapped on the shoulder” as they wander the Birdcage.
Lexus
The three-storey Lexus marquee is well known among Birdcage regulars for its hair and make-up beauty bar and plumbed toilets.
This year’s marquee design is a fusion of Japanese and Australian landscapes. Chef Luke Mangan will be cooking lunch for 240 guests each day on the ground floor. He’ll be joined by a sashimi chef carving a whole tuna while a “noodle master” will prepare soba noodles with peanut and sesame.
The second level is serving St Remio coffee while mixologist Priscilla Leong will preside over the cocktail bar on the top deck, which has the best views of the track in the Birdcage.
Crown
Crown is marking its return to the Birdcage after several years and has cheekily ensured its three-storey townhouse themed marquee is the tallest of them all. Guests will be able to (ever so slightly) look down on their neighbours in the Lexus tent.
The interior of the LANDMARK by Lexus marquee.Credit: Eddie Jim
Crown’s marquee features a grand piano on the ground floor, a ballroom on the second floor and the top level has a terrace for track views and space for entertainment from instrumental performers and DJs.
Penfolds
Penfolds will be pouring 2019 Penfolds Grange on Derby Day, which retails for about $1000 a bottle.
There’s a tasting cave with food and wine pairing from Penfolds Magill Estate chef Scott Huggins, an “on the rocks” bar with Penfolds cocktails and a dessert bar serving cult favourite Piccolina Gelateria.
The Penfolds marquee overlooks the parade ring and has moved from a space theme last year to an under-the-sea theme this year.
There are shell-shaped cocktail glasses, caviar served from mother-of-pearl bowls and a series of portholes with a scuba diver graphic to make it feel like guests are on a boat.
Mumm
G.H. Mumm’s marquee has moved to the centre of the front row this year and is bringing a bit of Parisian theatre to the enclosure with a large stage at the centre of the red and white marquee.
In previous years, Mumm has featured a swimming pool and a full-size yacht. Chris Sheehy, prestige and private client manager at Mumm, says the focus this year is on celebration.
“We’re not quite the party marquee, but we always want our guests to have a great time and have great energy within our space within our confines,” he says.
A bartender serves champagne in the ‘Théâtre G.H. Mumm’ marquee.Credit: Eddie Jim
The champagne house has a private tasting room at the back of the marquee for sampling vintage champagne.
They’ve flown in French chef Florian Barbarot, who will be serving up a menu that includes grilled octopus in Vegemite.
Furphy
Furphy sells itself as the only pub in the Birdcage and will be serving beer on tap, surf and turf, bangers and mash, and “the Furphy” burger from a two-storey Victorian-style pub overlooking the finishing straight with an atrium in the middle.
Schweppes
The Schweppes marquee will be decked out in blindingly bright yellow and white.
Model Tess Shanahan enjoys the magical bubble booth in the Schweppes marquee.Credit: Eddie Jim
There’s a “bubble booth” for Schweppes’ edible fruity bubbles, with “Pash n Dash” or “Flemington Fling” cocktails. On the menu, “fairy bread” is made with taramasalata, tobiko and caviar.
Tabcorp
The Tabcorp marquee is an incredibly plush TAB with a masculine vibe in dark forest green.
This is where the serious Birdcage punters gather for the trackside views and wall-to-wall screens of television for racing and betting action.
Gwen and Lucky’s
The foodie hot spot in the Birdcage this year is a three-course lunch with “LA vibes” devised by Stone, which will be served in the Gwen dining room with cocktails, Penfolds wine and Mumm champagne.
There are two sittings for lunch, but for $1495 per person, guests don’t get booted out of the room at the end of their sitting and can stay on for an all-day grazing menu and drinks.
Even at that price, you won’t get Stone on the pans – he is only appearing on the last day of the carnival as he’s filming a TV show in the US.
Above the Gwen dining room is Lucky’s marquee, where there’s an all-day grazing menu from Stone, champagne, cocktails, beer and wine.
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