Babylon Garden

Joining the CBD’s stunning Middle Eastern restaurant, Babylon Brisbane, is Babylon Gardens, a breezy, Mediterranean-inspired bar perched right on the river. Located just in front of its sister venue, Babylon Gardens features two al fresco terraces overlooking the Story Bridge, and is the ultimate spot for a pre-dinner cocktail or after work drinks. 

Featuring plenty of palm trees and other greenery scattered amongst the cream-coloured brick columns, Babylon Gardens has room for up to 500 patrons, with seating options including high and low green marble-topped tables and comfy leather banquette seating. There’s no need to worry about inclement weather either, as the louvre roof above can be closed in the case of rain. 

Once you’ve found a comfortable spot and admired the view, you can hit the 10-metre brass bar for a drink, with signature cocktails like the 'Semiramis’ Throne,' combining Tanqueray Sevilla, mastic liqueur, apricot, lemon, falernum and orange blossom, or the 'Devine Levanthyme', with limoncello, lemon gin, thyme, sugar and egg white. Fans of Babylon’s Turkish Espresso Martini will be happy to know it’s also on the menu here, and you can also choose from four spritz cocktails and a selection of wines.

While the open-air bar is a dreamy spot for a drink, they’ve also got a meze-focused eats menu of their own if you’d prefer to stick around instead of moving on to the restaurant. Share a few plates of snacks like Baharat-spiced crispy chicken wings with harissa and labneh, housemade felafel, lamb gozleme and pumpkin kebabs—trust us, you won’t go hungry here. 

Image credit: Markus Ravik