Five years. That’s how long Nick Woodward, David Flynn and Frank Li have been working towards the opening of Norte and Sueno in Nobby Beach.

But then, these twin venues are the Gold Coast follow-up to Rick Shores, that city’s most iconic modern restaurant. Perhaps it always had to take this long.

“There’s definitely pressure to get it right,” Woodward says. “But we’re blessed to have an incredible team at Rick’s. And that gives us the confidence that we can nail it from day one. We’ve ticked every box in our control to make this work.”

Norte and Sueno will open together on the top two levels of the Oxley 1823 development in mid-December, serving Latin American-inspired food and drinks, with a lean into Mexican cuisine.

In charge of the design is Jared Webb’s J.AR OFFICE, fresh off its work on Brisbane’s Hong Kong-inspired Central – the group’s most recent opening – and winning a national design award for the brilliant late-2023 facelift of Gerard’s Bistro, also in Brisbane. The brief was to capture the monolithic boldness of the modernist architecture the team witnessed during research trips to Mexico City.

The result will be a pair of venues defined by black slate, brown limestone, woven textiles, and striking vermiculated waffle ceilings. Downstairs, in Norte, the kitchen will take centre stage; upstairs at Sueno, it will be a semi-open-air affair designed to capture the feel of an arid landscape, with splashes of colour.

“We didn’t want to make it too kitschy Mexican,” Woodward says. “It needed to have its own identity and lean on some of the things that we came across in our travels.”

For Norte and Sueno, Woodward and co travelled a lot. Group executive chef James Brady, a partner in the venues, spent four weeks living on his own in Mexico City, renting an apartment and researching recipes. He also spent time in the kitchen at KOL, London’s one-Michelin starred Mexican restaurant.

“I [also] went to Argentina and worked with a butcher, who showed me how to butcher a whole cow for the parrilla,” Brady says. “And then we ended up going into the actual countryside and cooking in the traditional way, which was the building block for the hearth in Norte.”

For food, Norte will make good use of its custom-made hearth, with a menu split into raw dishes, bar snacks, masa (corn-based plates), mains, sides and desserts.

Brady says signatures will include raw scallop served mango, bee pollen, chilli and grapefruit; a flank steak with native chimichurri and caramelised onion; a beef tostada with fermented chilli, agretti and taki kombu; and grilled coral trout with a koji butter, guacachile and green pico de gallo.

Upstairs, Sueno will focus more on snackier eats. You might order baby abalone with fermented habanero, bonito soy and pickled red onion; hiramasa kingfish and Ora King salmon ceviche; al pastor-style Moreton Bay bug tacos with pineapple and a crustacean butter emulsion; and champagne crayfish skewers with a chipotle butter.

“There’s definitely pressure to get it right. But we’re blessed to have an incredible team at Rick’s. And that gives us the confidence that we can nail it from day one. We’ve ticked every box in our control to make this work.”

Norte and Sueno co-owner Nick Woodward.

For drinks, group beverage director Peter Marchant has compiled an “all killer, no filler” 150-bottle wine collection for Norte, with almost half the list occupied by Central and South American drops, while Sueno will serve hard-to-find tequila and mezcal to fuel a cocktail menu with a bunch of variations on the classics. Marchant has also worked with Brisbane’s Newstead Brewery to develop a cerveza for both venues.

“[At Norte] it’s about showing off those varieties, styles and regions that people haven’t seen next to maybe things that they do know,” Marchant says. “We’ve still got to have reference points there for people that they know and trust, such as malbec and [South American carbernets], but part of what we are doing is showing them different things as well.

“Upstairs, there will be a focus on wines by the glass. We’re [also] doing a half-tequila half-mezcal margarita, which has that really smoky edge to it, and at the tasting the other night at Rick’s I think I drank the best caipirinha I’ve tasted in my life.”

Norte and Sueno will open at 17 Lavarack Road on the Gold Coast in mid-December.