Enter through the gates of Babylon, or more accurately, via the Westfield escalators, and you’ll find one of Sydney’s most lavish venues. The 1200m² metropolis is home to a variety of drinking and dining spaces, including a sprawling Levantine restaurant and a gold rooftop bar surrounded by lush ferns and dripping greenery.

The border-crossing menu, created by ex-Efendy chef, Arman Uz, draws on the traditional cuisine of the Levant countries, including Israel, Lebanon, Cyprus, Turkey and Egypt. Most dishes on the menu are cooked over charcoal on a 3-metre-long mangal (Middle eastern grill) or on the kitchen’s two rotisseries. Everything from bread to baklava is made in-house, along with cured meats such as sucuk sausage and basturma, an air-dried cured beef.

Bread will be baked onsite daily, with plenty of tasty places to wrap it from the charred chillies with molasses to smoked eggplant topped with tender Adana kebab meat. Ancient dishes will be brought into this century, including çilbir, a favourite with the Ottoman sultans, made from poached duck egg cradled by garlic yoghurt and burnt chilli butter. Desserts will include one of Turkey’s most famous sweets, a burnt milk pudding with sour cherry sorbet.

Inspired by the opulence of Babylonian times, bar manager David Nutting has created a cocktail list rich in colour, flavour and aroma. The menu will include six signature sips, including Smoke & Baklava, a blend of smoky mescal with housemade caramel and the Baharat Fashioned, which combines fat-washed Baharat buttered rum with banana sherbet and chocolate bitters. The drinks list is of biblical proportion, containing more than 400 spirits as well as around 300 bottles of new and old world wines, hand selected by sommelier Simon Howland.

Just like the ancient city, Babylon will pair coarse natural materials with luxurious fabrics, from soft, silky curtains to velvet-clad chairs and a dazzling overhead canopy of gold-beaded chain. Out on the terrace, trailing and upright plants provide a modern-day homage to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. An outdoor bar made from gold brass will deliver drinks to marble-topped tables as well as a turret, which has been transformed into a private dining space.

Babylon Rooftop Bar & Restaurant is located on level 7 of Westfield Pitt Street, Sydney. The venue opens Mon – Sun from 10am – 12am. For more details or to book, head to babylonrooftop.com.au