Take a walk down a delicious memory lane with Wellington Museum
Thursday, 28 May 2026
While fried rice and curry puffs are standard orders nowadays, go back one hundred years in Wellington and your dinner plate would look very different.
Te Waka Huia o Ngā Taonga Tuku Iho Wellington Museum’s exhibition Capital of Kai opens this Saturday, presenting a century of food culture in the capital.
Wellington’s restaurants have changed dramatically since the 1920s, exhibition curator Ian Wards said, evolving from post-war English staples of meat and three veg to a diverse array of cuisines from every corner of the globe.
Capital of Kai’s collection showcases items from 20th century Wellington restaurants that map this shift: including the Green Parrot’s original grill plate, Garage Project’s first beer still and Havana’s original espresso coffee roaster.
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For the exhibition, Wards has been actively collecting “material culture” from long-time Wellington eateries, some now lost to time.
One of items on display is a couch from Il Casino, an Italian restaurant run by famed restaurateur Remiro Bresolin.
If this couch could talk, it would tell all the gossip of 1980s Wellington, Wards said. At a time when spaghetti bolognese was considered an exotic dish, all the Wellington elite dined at Il Casino. Bresolin had been well known for his charm and excellent food, Wards said.
Also included in the exhibition is the original hot plate/grill from The Green Parrot, believed to have been built from melted down World War I gun barrels, and Geoff Marsland of Havana’s first espresso coffee roaster, which constantly caught alight and got the coffee roastery kicked out of its first building.
There is also the apron and boater hat of Martin Chait, who ran the famous Dixon Street Deli during its heyday, a place where then-exotic items like green olives could be purchased.
Cooking equipment from Great India is also included, as well as Prefab owner Jeff Kennedy’s late 1960s coffee machine, Garage Project’s original still and Tuatara’s original glass beer bottle moulds.
One hundred years ago Kiwis’ diets were very meat heavy, as meat was more available here than it had been in the United Kingdom, Wards said.
Kiwis ate meat three times a day, accompanied by veges that had been grown in the garden.
“A lot of New Zealanders in the late 19th century would have come from probably working-class poorer backgrounds. It was a real sign of status: moving to New Zealand, starting a new life, and eating as much meat as you wanted,” Wards said.
It was after World War II when Kiwis’ cuisine began changing, as people had started to migrate to New Zealand from the likes of the Netherlands or Italy.
New Zealanders also started to go on their OEs and get taste for “strange exotic food”. The 1970s saw Southeast Asian and Indian restaurants become popular, and in the 1990s coffee culture exploded, Wards said.
“Having been brought up in the Deep South of the South Island, coming to Wellington, it really struck me how much more diverse people are here,” Wards said.
“We have variety today because 80% of our food is imported… So we're very lucky.”
Capital of Kai runs 30 May until 6 September, and is free for New Zealanders. The exhibition tells the story of Wellington’s restaurants, cafes and food innovators.