Duck & Rice Is Sydney's New 500-Seat Rooftop Cantonese Restaurant in the CBD

Hot on the heels of Babylon opening its doors last week is Westfield Sydney's second sprawling rooftop venue. Duck & Rice is a 500-seat contemporary Cantonese restaurant with 1920s Shanghai vibes. Opening its doors yesterday, Wednesday, June 26, it boasts an expansive outdoor terrace, Asian-inspired cocktails and dim sum aplenty.

The 400-square-metre venue spans multiple spaces including a restaurant, 200-seat bar and the aforementioned terrace. Head chef Kago Fong is plating up fresh seafood, dim sum and whole roast duck with plum sauce. Dishes you might find on the main menu include drunken pork knuckle, five spice beef shin with chilli vinaigrette and whole barramundi with pine nuts.

For dim sum, there are pork and crab siu mai, saltwater duck and wild mushroom dumplings and scallop wontons with chilli. Get it all in the assorted dim sum basket or try one of the banquet menus ($50–88) for the full experience.

Steven Woodburn

The bar offers its own reduced menu until midnight daily, too. It includes the likes of buns stuffed with slow-cooked pork, crispy chicken wings slathered in kung pao sauce and XO fried rice topped with duck. The bar is, of course, also stirring and shaking Cantonese-inspired cocktails, courtesy of bar manager Luke Nicola (Mr Wong, Mercado).

There's the Guns 'n' Roses (rum and spiced vermouth with strawberry and black rose tea) and the Spice Trade Punch #5 (star anise-infused cognac and Campari mixed with yuzu and pineapple). Plus, an old fashioned that uses black sesame-spiked rum and activated charcoal, and a spicy G&T with sichuan pepper gin.

Absinthe and Chinese baijiu flights also make the cut, as do a whopping 28 wines by the glass and another 100 by the bottle — you can thank sommelier Simon Howland (Nomad, Catalina) for that bit. For those attempting Dry July, Chinese teas, house lychee and elderflower sodas and high-end mocktails are also up for grabs.

Steven Woodburn

The fit-out is the work of Brisbane-based architect firm Hogg & Lamb, and the design fuses traditional Chinese art with the art deco stylings of 1920s Hong Kong and Shanghai. Expect a glowing, glass-fringed bar top, Brazilian teak flooring, blue and gold wallpaper and tabletops made from oak and emerald marble. There's also marble tiling and a dedicated lantern room on the terrace —it features 250 handmade Chinese iron lanterns.

Duck & Rice is the third Sydney venue for Mantle Group Hospitality, which also opened Babylon last week, as well as James Squires' restaurant and microbrewery, The Squire's Landing, in Circular Quay last year.

Duck & Rice is now open at Level 7, Westfield Pitt Street, Sydney. Opening hours are 11am–midnight daily.

Images: Steven Woodburn.