Frenchie, Chin Chin and celeb chefs: Who’s cooking at Flemington for spring carnival?

Lobster rolls, $14 steak frites and a raw bar join the culinary line-up at this year’s Melbourne Cup carnival, while a big local restaurant group is making a splash. Here’s what you need to know ahead of the day.

October 29, 2026

From French to Japanese and Mexican, the field for this year’s Melbourne Cup carnival is looking strong, at least on the culinary front. And it’s not just restricted to the VIPs who score invites (or can afford a ticket) to the Birdcage. Across the track, Flemington’s food offerings have levelled up this year.

Jason Jones of Prahran favourite Entrecote leads as culinary collaborator at Landmark by Lexus on Millionaire’s Row, in a new three-storey marquee designed by architects Hecker Guthrie. For the French meets Japanese menu, Jones used the bistro classic of steak frites as the jumping off point for a Japanese-style sandwich.

“The katsu sandwich is a chance to get playful,” he says. “It’s a beautiful way to fit with the Japanese heritage of Lexus.”

Panko-crumbed beef tenderloin is cooked medium-rare and served with Entrecote’s “secret” herb butter sauce on fluffy shokupan bread with pommes gaufrettes, lattice-like potato crisps. If it’s a hit, it might make the menu at Entrecote post-spring racing.

Lexus guests will also snack on gougeres, small choux puffs filled with gruyere custard, and tuna tartlets. The concept of akebono – a Japanese expression that describes the beauty of dawn – is literally interpreted with a dish of beetroot, gin and dill-cured salmon in all its dawn-hued glory. A sculptural dessert by patissier couple Hyoju Park and Rong Yao Soh of Carlton’s Madeleine de Proust was crafted through 3D digital modelling.

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Secret bars have become a favourite add-on to the corporate marquees of the Birdcage in recent years. This spring carnival, Entrecote’s sister venue Gigi will serve steak tartare, oysters and cocktails behind a Japanese noren curtain on level three of the Lexus marquee.

At Crown’s enclosure, Marmont takes over two levels, bringing California cool to the races. Mini lobster rolls, tuna tostadas and prawn quesadillas keep things light, while wagyu beef burgers with truffle fries make perfect booze-soaking fodder. A South American-inspired ceviche bar and theatrical parmesan wheel pasta station will entertain guests between races.

Making its Millionaire’s Row debut, tequila house Don Julio Hacienda will show off the cooking chops of US-Mexican chef Claudette Zepeda, who was chosen by Don Julio’s global culinary adviser Curtis Stone. The two have appeared on the Iron Chef TV series. Crisp fritters crowned with creme fraiche and caviar, birria-braised mushrooms with escabeche, crispy potato and celeriac taquitos and al pastor pork tortas (Mexican sandwiches) will be doing the rounds.

At French champagne house G.H. Mumm, a private dining carriage for 10 guests will serve a bite-sized canape created by Maison Batard executive chef Adam Sanderson. Lightly cured scallops are finished with brown-butter-toasted almonds and a Mumm champagne jelly – and paired with a glass of champagne, of course.

“I wanted to create a snack that’s luxurious, elegant, fresh, clean and full of flavour – like the champagne,” says Adam Sanderson, who suggests taking a sip of champagne before eating the canape.

Previously invitation-only, some Birdcage marquees are now allowing the public to buy tickets, with prices of up to $2195 on Melbourne Cup Day.

If that’s too steep, there are other ways to eat and drink well on a beer budget.

Frenchie restaurant and its famed $14-everything menu makes its debut trackside, owner Lucas Boucly there to prove French food doesn’t have to be reserved for the rich and famous.

“French food is usually on the pricier side, but being French myself and having grown up in Paris, I want good French food at a decent price. It is possible and, Melbourne being the most European city in Australia, it makes sense to have this offering here,” he says.

He’s bringing five dishes from his popular Collins Street restaurant to Flemington’s general admission areas, including steak frites, a Frenchie summer salad, saucisson and a Basque-style chicken stew.

Any race-goer can also enjoy a 60-minute express lunch at Chin Chin, the enduringly popular South-East Asian restaurant by Chris Lucas, which will have a pop-up restaurant located near Fashions on the Field.

It’s one of several Lucas restaurants at the track this year, after the hospitality group inked a deal with the Victoria Racing Club.

“A new generation of executives have come on board at the VRC with a broader and more entrepreneurial way of thinking,” Lucas says. He has been eyeing the right time to enter the Flemington hospitality offering.

A re-creation of hatted Society restaurant in The Chairman’s Lounge and The Byerley restaurant is reserved for members, who will dine on southern rock lobster risotto, cured ocean trout, and king prawn and buffalo ricotta ravioli.

Fun-loving Yakimono has bedded in with Asahi for the Japanese beer giant’s Birdcage marquee, while a retail outlet also sits within the VIP enclosure selling Yaki hot dogs (miso pork sausage, mustard and grilled jalapeno) and prawn cocktail sandos.

What’s cooking at Flemington

In the Birdcage

• Landmark by Lexus: Entrecote, Gigi, Madeleine de Proust
• Crown: Marmont
• G.H. Mumm: Maison Batard activation
• Don Julio Hacienda: Claudette Zepeda
• Asahi: Yakimono

Members-only

• Society

Eats for everyone

• Chin Chin, Public Lawn (near Fashions on the Field)
• Frenchie, Public Lawn East
• Frankies Tortas and Tacos, Betting Ring
• Lankan Tucker, The Elms

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