Immigration Museum Showcases Hospitality Culture in Order Up Exhibition
Melbourne’s food story has always been told through plates, chefs and late-night tales. But what about the slips of paper that actually keep the whole thing running? The humble docket, scribbled in a hurry, stained with sauce and grease, is finally getting its due.
From 16 October, the Immigration Museum will transform hundreds of these dog-eared scraps into Order Up: a city fed by many cultures, an exhibition that reimagines Melbourne’s restaurants through the notes that link table to kitchen.
The city through its kitchens
The exhibition dives into 33 restaurants that have shaped Melbourne’s dining DNA. The list reads like a greatest hits of old favourites and cult names: Pellegrini’s, France-Soir, Abla’s, Supper Inn, Rumi, The Horn, Chae, Taverna, Pastuso and plenty more. Each docket becomes a snapshot of the city’s appetite, whether it’s a single serve of espresso, a bowl of pho or a family’s worth of mezze.
Behind every order lies a story: late-night friendships over staff meals, recipes carried across oceans, and languages shouted over the clang of pans. The exhibition layers those voices with film and soundscapes, surrounding visitors with the energy of a service in full swing.
The team behind it
Order Up is the work of two lifelong friends. Daniel Saade, a third-generation restaurateur whose Lebanese family arrived here in 1950, runs Niche on Bridge in Richmond. Redmond Stevenson, a cinematographer, has been pointing his lens at kitchens for years. Together, they’ve turned an invisible tool of hospitality into an artwork that speaks volumes about migration, belonging and the grind of feeding a city.
Saade says it best: “Anyone can come here and find language through hospitality.” For him, every docket carries more than food. It carries connection.
Why it matters
The Immigration Museum was the obvious choice to host it. As Museums Victoria CEO Lynley Crosswell puts it, Order Up is “a tribute to the people who work around the clock to feed and nourish Melbourne.” Hospitality has long been one of the most immediate ways newcomers find footing in this city, and one of the most enduring ways locals connect with them.
Beyond the slips of paper
To expand the conversation, the museum is staging Order Up: Stories from the Kitchen on 19 October. Saade and Stevenson will be joined by chefs Helly Raichura (Enter Via Laundry) and Hamed Allahyari (Kabibi) to share stories of food, family and the communities that gather around their tables.
The details
Order Up runs from 16 October 2025 until 5 April 2026 at the Immigration Museum, 400 Flinders Street. Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for seniors, and free for children, members and concession holders.
This is Melbourne’s food culture, captured not through glossy photos or fine china, but through the slips of paper we barely notice. The dockets that built a city, now framed for everyone to see.
Melbourne’s food story has always been told through plates, chefs and late-night tales. But what about the slips of paper that actually keep the whole thing running? The humble docket, scribbled in a hurry, stained with sauce and grease, is finally getting its due.
