To access this influencer-friendly rooftop eatery, foodies must brave a Brooklyn parking ramp and service lift.
The pop-up Levantine restaurant Habibi has become a social media sensation for pairing an industrial-chic entry experience with fine dining.
The reservation-only venue is located atop 154 Scott Ave., at Bushwick’s bleeding edge, where wholesale food packaging businesses still coexist alongside the ever creeping influx of artisan chocolatiers and small-batch mead makers.
To reach the lushly landscaped, white tablecloth destination above, however, diners must journey through a car-sized roll-down gate and to the back of a warehouse, where tuxedo-clad operators lead them into a freight elevator and journey with them up to a Manhattan-worthy, terrace-equipped event space.
“They pour you a glass of champagne while the elevator takes you up to this rustic stairwell, only to be greeted by a beautiful rooftop with incredible landscaping overlooking no other than New York City,” creator Brendan Fallis says in a TikTok tour of Habibi that has accrued over 1.4 million views on the platform. “After dinner, they tell you to join them down the way into, that’s right, this incredible hookah lounge.”
The idea for Habibi was born in the Caribbean, at the Grand Cayman island’s Palm Heights hotel, where the mezze-heavy menu — currently presented in both English and Arabic — was first launched.
The food offerings, intended to be enjoyed family-style, include lots of grilled kebabs and seafood, and were “born out of collaboration between Palm Heights Executive Chef Jake Tyler Brodsky and Creative Director Gabriella Khalil’s family recipes,” according to press materials.
They also note that evenings at the Scott Avenue address are often accompanied by “a contrast of traditional cuisine and contemporary culture — from coffee readings to drag belly dancers.”
The concept was so successful at the hotel, restaurant reps told The Post, that it was brought to Brooklyn as a pop-up party event in 2021 and now again. This incarnation of Habibi, started this summer, will continue until the end of December.
The space briefly closed this month while its staff worked a different Palm Heights Grand Cayman-related pop-up — but is set to reopen to eager patrons on Wednesday.