Lexus ups the culinary ante in the Birdcage

Spring racing marks the start of the silly season in Melbourne. From now until the end of the year the city enters party mode, and there's no party bigger or flashier than the four-day fiesta in the Birdcage – Melbourne Cup Carnival's fenced-off pen for lavish, sponsored marquees at Flemington Racecourse. To be among celebrities, models, Instagram influencers and business moguls, you need to be on a coveted event-sponsor guest list. But beyond the glitz, glamour, designer frocks and fascinators, the focus on food and drink continues to grow. Of all the Birdcage marquees, the Lexus Design Pavilion is the place to be for food lovers, which isn't surprising given that the company signs top chefs as brand ambassadors. This year Lexus has replaced Emirates as the principal partner of the Victoria Racing Club and naming rights sponsor of the Melbourne Cup, making the official title of the race that stops the nation Lexus Melbourne Cup.

A day in the life of a Lexus guest at the races goes something like this: get transported to the track via the Lexus luxury vehicle fleet; arrive at the bold, black pavilion; be awe-struck by the three-storey, natural-light-filled structure with blooms by Cecilia Fox that are magnified by glass suspended from the ceiling; view the LF-1 Limitless concept vehicle beside a giant horse-meets-automotive sculpture by Anna-Wili Highfield; get your makeup touched up by MECCA; ascend a staircase to an expansive balcony covered in Japanese natives; and perhaps take a selfie with Elle Macpherson, Megan Gale, sport stars Anthony Minichiello and John Eales, or racing royalty Emma Freedman and Kate Waterhouse. Once that's all been ticked off, it's time to focus on what really matters – the food.

Every element of the three-storey marquee has been modelled around the theme Utopia. The multi-faceted edible offering, which will see 6,800 food items served to guests each day, is no exception. On level one, Richmond's brand-new Future Future restaurant is plating contemporary Japanese dishes, including an on-trend katsu sando. They're also collaborating with Piccolina to create 1,400 ice-cream mochi, available through a serving window so that Birdcage guests who didn't score a Lexus invitation can still get a taste of the marquee.

Ambassador Neil Perry is on level two with floating nibbles such as spanner crab and wasabi tartlets. Heartier dishes will make the rounds later in the day when guests are well lubricated, like Perry's Burger Project cheeseburgers and Sichuan eggplant noodles.

Perry's fellow brand ambassador Ben Shewry will delight – and perhaps shock – with Attica's black ant lamington, an ice-cream take on the Aussie classic coated in Daintree Rainforest chocolate, coconut and black ants. Nearly a kilogram of edible ants will be used to make 1,200 lamingtons over the four race days.

Up top on level three, chef Shaun Quade has transported restaurant Lume to a 76-seater dining room with a view of the racecourse, the largest sit-down restaurant to grace the Birdcage. The Big Group, which caters behind the scenes, approached Quade after dining at Lume to see if he was interested in getting on board.

"I've been asked to do the Melbourne Cup before and I was like, 'no thanks', because it's such a big deal for a restaurant like ours, to do our style of food for that many people," says Quade.

"When people come into Lume it's about the whole experience, so when you take it out of that building, it's hard to translate sometimes, but they've been really gracious about giving me a lot of freedom and I think the brand alignment is very good – a lot of the food at Lume is Japanese-inspired and big on technique."

Lexus' brand ethos spotlights Japanese influence, craftsmanship, innovation and elevated experiences. Technology and anticipation are key components of both the Lume and Lexus identities, both of which can be neatly categorised as 'progressive luxury'. But Quade admits that, like a Lexus vehicle, most of the technical side happens behind the scenes.

"I think that there's a misconception that someone is going to walk into Lume and get a headset thrust on them as soon as they sit down," says Quade.

"What we do is use technology to give people a beautiful experience, something they're going to remember that will ignite their imagination. That's really the core of what we do; we want people to have fun and just relax."

More than 1,000 guests will be treated to Quade's four-course tasting menu during 45-minute sittings in the pavilion restaurant. Those who have eaten at Lume might recognise dishes and swoon over the sourdough bread course with smoked eel butter and onion honey. The menu items are near identical to their restaurant counterparts, but tweaked for ease of mass preparation. For example, the sea corn taco is indistinguishable, save for a basil leaf between the handpicked crabmeat and taco shell to prevent the latter from becoming soggy.

For main, Flinders Island salt grass lamb is slightly dried and then cooked in its own fat with mountain pepper. It's then barbecued over eucalyptus leaves and seasoned with miso, which Quade made from 12 kilograms of Yarra Valley garlic and barley, fermented in the restaurant's wine cellar for a year.

Quade's 'magic mushrooms' are truffles separated into two halves – one shiitake-wattleseed caramel, the other caramelised white chocolate with lime ganache – served on a bed of pine needles for tabletop foraging.

"The whole thing is about people coming up out of the crowd into something completely different to what they have downstairs, even if it's just for 45 minutes. We want to transport them, which is what we do at the restaurant," says Quade.