The Birdcage marquees are a chance for Australia's top brands to sell themselves at Melbourne's most prestigious event. A lot of effort goes into these structures, which seem anything but temporary. But what was the best, and what bombed?

Swisse

Dark and cool, Australia's top supplements brand's marquee had good views of the track. A great place to spend the day, with pretty much everything you need, including plenty of drinks  on tap. Very comfortable and chilled out. Swisse are flush with cash after a Chinese investor snapped up the company, and they weren't afraid to show it. A confident performance. The food included a full yum cha menu plus "superfood shots". I don't know what's in them but they were delicious.

The celebrities were typical Swisse - athletes and models. Ashley Hart was beautiful, while Bec and Lleyton Hewitt seemed a little shocked by the attention. But the Australian Women's Netball Team stole the show.

7/10

Lavazza

The tent - more a giant shed, really - was located away from the racetrack, and in keeping with that pulled off a nice low-key vibe. As their PR representative pointed out, they were close to the  toilets - handy. Lavazza went with  a sports theme with celebrities - Thanasi Kokkinakis and Gary Ablett.

Canapes were served as the major food group. Watermelon and yoghurt was the sweet option, egg muffins with caviar was the savory..

A nice, chilled out marquee.

8/10

DJ David Guetta living it up in the Mumm marquee at the Melbourne Cup. Photo: Supplied

Mumm

The tent had the best food but oddest vibe. They went for a nightclub atmosphere,  complete with exposed steel roof, flashing lights and a David Guetta DJ set. Oh, and carved ice everywhere.

But the food is high class all the way - champagne and caviar taste experiences. Did you know you eat  caviar off the back of your hand, where the most nerve endings are? Now you do.

6/10

Boags

The marquee was ... pubby. Very pubby. It was the largest and rowdiest. Four hundred and fifty people were drinking Boags out of black glassware. There was  also an in-house TAB and toilets. Daniel MacPherson looked like he was having quite a bit of fun outside the tent, and the food menu looked quite good - apparently it's Tasmanian-inspired. A bar staffer quietly told me he wasn't looking forward to 4pm, when this place gets messy.

On the other hand, there is a very cool custom-built music machine sitting in the corner which is connected to a local weather station on top of the tent. Apparently it converts weather data into noise - but it was very quiet today, which was of course good news for punters.

6/10

Schweppes

They went sans celebrities this year and it worked for them.

They were  launching some new cocktail mixers, and so went with a lovely free cocktail bar - with a very nice gin and grapefruit mix the highlight. If Boags was the beer barn, Schweppes was the hip small bar. Full marks, great place to imbibe.

There was talk of   a nice food menu, although I didn;t get to see it.  No celebs, by choice.

9/10

Sasha Mielczarek and Sam Frost make their debut as a couple in the Myer marquee. Photo: Instagram

Myer

As a major sponsor, Myer was required to put on a show, and they did.  An elevated position allowed good track viewing, and celebrity presence was heavy - Jen Hawkins and Sam Frost the standouts.  Jen  was working a massive fluoro number - very good. Quite extensive food - a full copper oyster bar, Rye bread with cultured butter, tuna sashimi and roasted kale salad.

8/10

Lexus

Two words - cheeseburger and springroll. Lexus is all about the food, with Sydney's Dan Hong doing  hors-d'oeuvres  downstairs and a Ben Shrewry-helmed Attica pop-up doing sit down meals upstairs (unfortunately it's pretty much impossible to get a table unless you get to Flemington around, say, 1am). Thousands of tulips dangled, roots and all, from wires strung across the ceiling.

The roll ... worked. It was crunchy and greasy and cheesy in the way of the best fast food is. "The essence of fast food," my companion said. Should also mention the pork and potato-chip dipped in bechamel sauce, which caused your ernst correspondent's face to make all sorts of strange expressions of pleasure.

No celebs spotted - unless the 500kg polystyrene laser cut car counts. Ridiculous - but this is the birdcage.

9/10

Wolf Blass

We needed someone to really bring the class to the Birdcage, and Wolf delivered. The marquee offered a selection of Wolf's wines, plus a wine tasting led by a very knowledgeable wine maker, and an opportunity to try an early release right out of the barrell. The food was good without being overpowering, but the real winner here was the art. Artist David Bromley was in charge, filling the marquee with racing iconography and  an antique wind-up horse racing toy.

No celebs spotted, sadly, but really they should have got up here. It's great. And there were lots of free seats!

10/10

Emirates

Emirates was this year's major sponsor, and  its marquee certainly showed that no effort had been spared. It's hard to imagine this thing can ever be taken down - it's a full-on castle. The plush carpets  and great wallpaper inside were excellent, as were the Royal Dalton art ceramics on the wall.

Guarding it out front  were two royal palace guards (Emirates went  for a British theme this year) who apparently also do dances set to a Spice Girls mashup. Your correspondent, sadly, did not have a chance to observe this. The food was elegant, as you'd expect, and the celebrity appearances were A-grade - but I'm not sure this tent has enough X-factor other than the decor.

7/10

Send us a selfie of your race day outfit, whether beautiful or bizarre, for a chance to win $200 worth of Good Food restaurant gift cards, a bottle of Pol Roger champagne and a Good Food Guide. The runner-up will receive a double pass to Ben & Jerry's Openair Cinema in St Kilda. Readers will vote for their favourite and the entrant with the most votes by 9pm on November 9 will win.

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