In the hum of a busy kitchen – the clatter of pans, the sizzle of oil, the rhythm of voices calling orders – Melbourne’s cultural story is written on slips of paper. Those crumpled, food-stained dockets, the lifeblood of restaurants across the city, take centre stage in a new exhibition at the Immigration Museum: Order Up – a city fed by many cultures, opening Thursday 16 October.
The exhibition brings together hundreds of original restaurant dockets collected from 33 of Melbourne’s most beloved eateries, from institutions like France-Soir, Abla’s and Pellegrini’s Espresso Bar to contemporary favourites like Chae, Rumi and Pastuso.
Each docket tells a story – a shorthand record of flavour, community and care – revealing how the city’s kitchens have been shaped by generations of migration.
Created by Melbourne artists and lifelong friends Daniel Saade and Redmond Stevenson, Order Up is as much about sound and movement as it is about paper. Visitors will be surrounded by layers of projected film, voices, laughter, clinking cutlery and the whirr of espresso machines — an immersive sensory experience that captures the heartbeat of hospitality.
For Saade, a third-generation restaurateur and grandson of Lebanese immigrants, the project is deeply personal. He and Stevenson see hospitality as a kind of language — one that transcends borders and connects people through food. “Anyone can come here and find language through hospitality,” says Saade.
Museums Victoria CEO Lynley Crosswell calls the exhibition a tribute to the people who keep Melbourne fed — “from those who came before to the newcomers.” And with stories of arrival and belonging woven through every docket, the Immigration Museum is the perfect venue.
Order Up runs at the Immigration Museum, 400 Flinders Street, from 16 October 2025 to 5 April 2026. Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for seniors, with free entry for members, concession holders and children.
