By Ed Charles

It’s certainly the biggest betting day of the year. The first Tuesday in November, Melbourne Cup day, is also the biggest lunch day in Australia.

In Melbourne most of the action is on the turf with over 100,000 people attending the race, packed into the car park, the celebrity studded Birdcage, in the stands or simply gobbling a snag at the race course fence.

A select few will be quaffing vintage champagne in the $36,500 a year Chairman’s Club, with its panoramic view of the race course, individual flat screens and a private phone direct to the bookie. But at the top of the pecking order is the Victoria Racing Club committee room overlooking the home straight. This is where actual royalty mix with racing royalty and a who’s who of the Australian establishment.

Off the race course there are few sell-out charity events in Melbourne. That is
the preserve of Sydney and the other state capitals.

The real Melbourne restaurant action precedes the state’s public holiday days starting with Sunday lunch at upstairs at The Stokehouse overlooking St Kilda beach. This is an event to which trainers, racing families and identities book a year in advance. The restaurant squeezes 250 of them into a room that would usually only seat 140 with only good food and the lubrication of Champagne
and fine wines to help them along.

Inevitably the Moët & Chandon Cup Eve Lunch is a hot ticket with guests welcomed with an oversized antique marble bathtub stuffed with bottles of Moët & Chandon on ice. But the most famous and exclusive cup eve lunch for the racing establishment and the well connected is held at Grossi Florentino on Bourke Street (which is closed on the actual cup day).

The thing to bear in mind about Melbourne Cup lunches is that it isn’t all about the food but the sense of occasion and who’s attending. It’s about the sweep stakes, the money raised for charity, the size of the flat screen TV, the quality of alcohol on tap and the after party. The action happens everywhere from leagues clubs to high end restaurants and hotels with something to meet everybody’s budget whether it is $45 or $145.

From the Parmelia Hilton in Perth to The Sofitel Brisbane Grand Central (which boasts its $195 lunch to be the most expensive in the city) most of the champagne or Aussie-sparkling fueled action is in the top end hotels many setting up their own TABs specially for the day.

In Sydney this is the domain of the Shangri-La , the Westin or the Park Hyatt, which supports the Make-A-Wish foundation at a $185 a head lunch.

The $145 a head lunch at chef Luke Mangan’s Glass Brasserie in the Hilton is typical in having a high profile host, comedian Adam Spencer, a fashion parade and having enough NV Moët & Chandon Imperial Brut to sink a duchess.

The thing to remember is that you don’t want to overdo it and miss the after party action.