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Where to eat the winnings

Larissa Dubecki
Larissa Dubecki

Illustration: Bettina Guthridge.
Illustration: Bettina Guthridge.Supplied

Restaurants and racehorses don't often rank among the best investment decisions - not unless you're Gerry Ryan, and then you can take your Melbourne Cup (for Americain) back to one of your pubs (the Middle Park Hotel) and celebrate so hard you briefly lose the trophy.

Ryan's latest four-legged hope, Puissance De Lune, was scratched last week so the Jayco Caravan/Melbourne Pub Group business titan won't be repeating his 2010 effort this year. Better news for Ryan is the Spring Racing Carnival's flow-on effect for the restaurant industry.

The race that stops a nation for about approximately three minutes and 20 seconds leaves plenty of time for the food and drink-related pursuits, a drawcard of the celebrity chef-stuffed Birdcage. Off-course, things are no less frenetic.

The week is one of the biggest of the year at the venerable Flower Drum. ''It starts Derby eve because everyone has the next four days off,'' says general manager Jason Lui. ''[Restaurant founder] Gilbert Lau back in his day loved the horses and he developed strong ties with the racing crowd that we're still known for. On the day you might find a few winners here and there. We certainly sell lots of champagne. Lots.''

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Last year the post-Birdcage punters also flocked to Neil Perry's Rosetta as well as Rockpool; Gai Waterhouse's crowd has booked the French Brasserie for several years running. ''It's my first Cup,'' says restaurant manager Marco Sulpizo. ''Melbourne Cup is already fully booked and most of the week will be.'' Grossi Florentino, another horsey favourite, is kicking off with its traditional Cup eve lunch.

Now into its 53rd year, the socialite-studded event is predictable in tone - ''It's a party,'' says Guy Grossi - but the after-Cup dinner service can be mercurial.

''It depends on who wins and who loses. It's really unpredictable. There are lots of last-minute bookings.''

No such problem at Chin Chin, where the no-bookings policy doesn't preclude the racing carnival being ''always huge for us'', says owner Chris Lucas.

''Perhaps the two most memorable events were Adrian Grenier, aka Vince from HBO series Entourage, who took over Chin Chin after Cup day with his own entourage. Quite funny - he arrived with two girls and left with a lot more; just like the show.

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''Then Dita Von Teese hit Chin Chin after Derby with the Lavazza team and decided to kick on at GoGo Bar into the wee hours. Rumour has it a few items of clothing came off while many cocktails went down.''

Lucas' former restaurant, the Botanical, was another epicentre of Cup revelry. His then-executive chef Paul Wilson remembers the Bot's famous wine wall taking a ''hammering'' during race week. ''When Makybe Diva won - I think in '05 - a famous trainer decided to purchase an entire wall of Bordeaux and shouted everyone a glass for dinner to celebrate his victory. His bill was in the region of $50,000.''

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Larissa DubeckiLarissa Dubecki is a writer and reviewer.

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