Having poured his first drinks at North Sydney in the early 1990s, Nick Wills, co-owner of hospitality giant Tilley & Wills, has witnessed three decades of twists and turns for the postcode. And the industry veteran has never been more bullish on North Sydney − in late October, Tilley & Wills will open 250-seat
Mexican-inspired bar and kitchen Four Hundred.

“There’s a real resurgence here (in North Sydney), a real energy. We want to do something cool and aspirational,” he says of the incoming standalone venue, which will serve tacos and ancho spatchcock. It’ll slide into the former site of Hunter Gatherer restaurant on the rooftop of Greenwood Plaza.

Four Hundred takes its name from an Aztec myth about 400 rabbits going a little too hard on the agave, a moniker its owner describes as a “cheeky” acceptance of different drinking personalities. And Wills has seen a few. In 1992, while still at university, he worked as a part-time barman at North Sydney’s Greenwood Hotel, a pub that is now part of Tilley & Wills’ sprawling portfolio, which also includes Verandah Bar in the Sydney CBD, and The Buena in Mosman.

Wills caught the tail-end of North Sydney’s hospitality boom as an epicentre for advertising agencies and long lunches. After a long lull, the area once derided as the Kowloon of Sydney dining started crawling back. Property development and businesses relocated to the area, and a new wave of hospitality players followed.

The crew from The Grounds opened Lobby Boy, the 220-seat Glorietta launched in 2019 with a slick interior. Last year, the luxe restaurant and bar Rafi joined the party. Two-month-old Poetica, an ambitious wood-fired eatery, just
landed an impressive 15/20 review (and hat) from Good Food critic Callan Boys.

What’s changed in North Sydney? “It went into a bit of a hole, but there
are new commercial and residential buildings, lots of companies coming
in, and the new railway station [linking it with Barangaroo from 2024],”
Wills says.

Those extra visitors to North Sydney will discover a menu at Four Hundred with a strong Mexican accent and the occasional Peruvian, Spanish and Cuban touches. Wills says snapper aguachile and a cubano sandwich – stacked with pork neck, smoked ham and Swiss cheese – will be on the opening menu.

The Four Hundred bar will have a similar pitch. Tilly & Wills has partnered with Sesion tequila, founded by Australian entrepreneurs Jennifer Hawkins and Jake Wall. The bar will stock the full Sesion product line-up.

With its design taking its cues from architecture on the Mexican coast, Four Hundred will fire up in late October.

The restaurant will open Monday to Saturday 11.30am-late, from late October.

Greenwood Plaza Rooftop, 36 Blue Street, North Sydney, fourhundred.com.au

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