As anyone who has a Lebanese friend will know, Middle Eastern hospitality has never really done “small portions” or “quick catch-up drinks.” It does long tables, second helpings pressed on you before you’ve finished the first, and the quiet insistence that nobody leaves hungry – or leaves at all, really, until you’ve had “just one more” of everything. That’s the tradition arriving at The Streets of Barangaroo in the form of Zanobia. And Sydney’s waterfront has never had it before.
A Family Story, Not Just a Menu
Zanobia is the work of founder Jorge Ballas and his wife Jo-Anne, and it’s less a new restaurant than the next chapter of one they’ve been writing for years, following the success of sister venues Zenobia in Leichhardt and North Strathfield. Ballas – also the founder of Beirut Street Food – grew up between Iraq, Dubai, Syria and Lebanon, learning to cook at his mother’s side in kitchens where food wasn’t really about food, it was about who you fed and how generously. That’s the throughline he’s carrying into the CBD: after years of Leichhardt loyalty, Ballas saw an opening for a proper Middle Eastern table in the city, one built on community and shared plates rather than solo mains and a quick turnaround.
The Food Is Doing the Heavy Lifting
The menu spans hot and cold mezze, big vibrant salads, and meats off the signature charcoal grill – certified 100% halal beef, lamb and chicken, marinated for up to 48 hours in a house spice blend before it goes anywhere near the coals. That’s not a marketing flourish, that’s the actual difference between “seasoned” and “transformed.”
Expect baked halloumi with raisin, pine nuts and spiced honey, Jordanian lamb mansaf with yellow rice, goat yoghurt sauce and roasted almonds, and chicken fesenjan built on walnut, pomegranate molasses, tahini, sumac and saffron rice – a dish that’s basically a masterclass in how many directions “sweet, sour and rich” can go at once. Kibbeh sajiyeh brings minced lamb, onion, pine nuts and pomegranate molasses to the table too, before dessert wanders into rose milk cake, pistachio tiramisu and saffron rice pudding.
Drinks With a Sense of Occasion
The bar program takes the same regional lens and turns it into cocktails, working za’atar, pomegranate and aniseed into contemporary drinks that feel considered rather than gimmicky. The real centrepiece, though, is arak – Lebanon’s national spirit, distilled from grapes and infused with aniseed, and traditionally prepared tableside with water and ice as part of the ritual of mezze. It’s less a drink than an event, which tracks for a restaurant built entirely around the idea that a meal should take a while.
A Space Built Like a Palace, Named After a Queen
Zanobia takes its name from Queen Zenobia, the formidable ruler of the ancient Palmyrene Empire, and the fit-out leans into that same sense of grandeur without losing warmth: deep green, burgundy, rust and lilac worked through velvet, leather and textured fabric, softened by natural timber and stone. Alcove-style seating breaks the room into intimate pockets designed for exactly the kind of long, unhurried conversation Middle Eastern hospitality is built on.
“Our food is all about community and shared experience,” says Ballas, “and we want Zanobia to be a celebration of that.” Lendlease’s Monique de Cseuz calls it a warm celebration of Middle Eastern culture landing in the precinct – which, after decades of the Ballas family building that same reputation in the Inner West, feels less like an opening and more like a homecoming to a bigger table.
The Details
- Zanobia 100 Barangaroo Avenue (corner of Barangaroo Avenue & Shipwright Walk), Barangaroo
- Opens: 28 August
- Hours: Sunday-Wednesday, 11am-10pm | Thursday-Saturday, 11am-12am
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