Justin North to open restaurant at Sydney's Harbour View Hotel

Sydney chefs aren't going to let a corona crisis get between them and a new restaurant deal.

Former Becasse and Hotel Centennial chef Justin North is opening a new restaurant of his own, inking a deal to take over the restaurant at the Harbour View Hotel.

The pub, which sits almost directly under the Sydney Harbour Bridge, has a rich history. It was used extensively as a backdrop in the 1982 Australian film Starstruck.

"It's so close to the bridge you can almost touch the girders. They actually moved the whole hotel and rebuilt it when they built the bridge," North says.

The new food operation is a joint venture between North's consultancy firm, Concept Hospitality, and the pub's new owner, the Barba Group.

"They settled three weeks before COVID blew up. At the moment the brasserie is a bit tired, but we're hoping to get going with a refurb of it by spring, and a new name," North says.

Work has already begun on a function room with a Mad Men feel, complete with "metallic peacock wallpaper".

The chef has already reworked the menu. "It's more like the Centennial than Becasse. There's a beef and Guinness pie and some really good grilled prawns."

The site is certainly steeped in history. "There's a bullet hole in the front door from the 1980s."