Classic chicken sandwiches will no longer be a staple of the food and drink offering at the Melbourne Cup carnival, where punters will be chowing down on foie gras burgers and courgette flowers.
With Crown taking over the catering at the racing carnival, Peter Rowland’s mayo-stuffed chicken sandwiches on white bread are being replaced.
Joel Bickford of Sydney’s Shell House will be cooking charcoal-grilled yeast and a croc monsieur among other dishes at the Mumm Pavilion. Photo: Parker Blain
Peter Rowland served more than 20,000 chicken sandwich points at the Melbourne Cup carnival, enough to circle the track more than two-and-a-half times laid end to end, but the caretaker is no longer part of the Victoria Racing Club. line up
A VRC spokeswoman said Crown will include its own version of the chicken sandwich along with “many more delicious things.”
After a two-year hiatus due to the Covid pandemic, corporates at Flemington’s Birdcage are back and have celebrity chefs on board with Rosheen Kaul (Etta) at Lexus, Joel Bickford (Shell House, Sydney) at Mumm and Clinton McIvor (Amaru) at Villa Paradiso.
Peter Rowland’s Famous Chicken Sandwiches.
Photo: Supplied
At the Landmark by Lexus marquee, guests at Etta’s 80-seat restaurant will dine on a Japanese-inspired menu created and cooked by Kaul, including zucchini flower prawns and steamed Murray cod with sell purple and citrus.
“The menu is just a really amazing way to showcase our great Australian produce through my Asian Australian perspective,” Kaul said. “They are really beautiful pictures of what we do [at Etta].”
Kaul will cook at speed, serving three sets of 80 guests at a time from what she said is “more of a show kitchen” at the marquee.
“Guests are only supposed to be there for 45 minutes [dining] so it won’t put you off racing the full breadth of your experience either.”
To finish off the meal there will be a dessert cart from Koi Dessert Bar with wild strawberry mille-feuille and oolong tea sorbet.
To wash down the booze at the end of the day, Lexus is serving up mini burgers with brisket and foie gras from celebrity butcher Victor Churchill.
Amaru chef Clinton McIvor will be guest chef at VRC’s own 350-seat Birdcage restaurant called ‘Villa Paradiso’. Photo: Supplied
At GHMumm, the champagne will be flowing and chef Joel Bickford is cooking up a French garden party themed menu featuring croque monsieur with a twist and char-grilled toppings.
Bickford has created a “croc monsieur”, a croque monsieur with a “French Aussie twist”. “Instead of curing the bacon in there, I thought ‘Why don’t we do the French notes with brioche, tender, comte, white mustard sauce and all that?'” Bickford said. “Why don’t I make my own ham and make it crocodile?”.
Bickford cured the crocodile for several days, smoked it and then air-dried it.
“I think it’s good to let people go [to the races] something a little different to remember,” he said.
For dessert he has created ice cream sandwiches made with Malfroy honey from the Blue Mountains, calendula, marigold and elderflower.
Mum expects to serve more than 2,500 bottles of champagne and 15,000 canapés on her main deck throughout Cup Week and is promising champagne cocktails and roaming oysters.
VRC is also opening its own 350 seat restaurant in the Birdcage called ‘Villa Paradiso’ with Clinton McIvoras the guest chef on all four days.
McIvor will serve a seven-course menu with matching wines from GH Mumm and Penfolds.
In Flemington’s most exclusive area, the Chairman’s Club – where politicians and CEOs rub shoulders with the VRC board – Crown will have Alessandro Pavoni (Ormeggio, Sydney) serving tuna crudo and tagliata wagyu tenderloin.
Crown’s Guillaume Brahimi (Bistro Guillaume) is at The Byerley in The Member’s Club Stand and Johnny Di Francesco (400 Gradi) in Straight Six.
In the general admission area, food options include Merrywell, Gradi, Oriental Tea House and Hella Good by Stalaktites.
Food destinations in the Flemington’s Park area include Dos Amigos, Goldie Boy Co, Hochi Mama and Terminus plus the retro motel themed Pony Bar.
The VRC is describing the offerings as a “significant food and drink upgrade” to what was previously available at Flemington.
“Racers will be spoiled for choice with traditional race day favorites reinvented alongside new offerings from some of Australia’s finest culinary talent using produce that is almost all sourced from Victoria,” said VRC chairman Neil Wilson.
