The team behind The Moon, Toorak Cellars open Clover wine bar in Richmond

The crew behind Toorak Cellars and Armadale’s Milton Wine Shop have opened their sixth bar just in time for the silly season.

The crew behind beloved Melbourne watering holes The Moon and Toorak Cellars will soon be pouring vino at their new Richmond wine bar.

In early November, Lyndon Kubis will pop the first lambrusco bottle to mark the opening of Clover with Burnley Brewing’s Mark Hopkinson, chef Charley Snadden-Wilson (Ramblr, Etta) and general manager Sarah Reilly (The Moon, Pt Leo Estate).

The tiny Swan St place is Kubis’ sixth venue – and second with Snadden-Wilson –

who has been cooking at Collingwood’s The Moon since lockdown.

Clover is a new wine bar that's opening in Richmond by Lyndon, and Charley Snadden-Wilson and Sarah Reilly. Picture: David Crosling.

Kubis’s bars have been a fixture for inner-east folk for many years and include Malvern’s Milton Wine Shop, Prahran’s The Alps and Surrey Hills’ The Hills.

“We’d (Charley) spoken about doing something for a while, but the timing wasn’t right,” Kubis said.

“After lockdown, he was doing a residency at The Moon for three to four months, and then we started vibing this restaurant.”

Clover will act as a modern bistro, seating only 48 people inside and another 30 in the sunny courtyard out the back.

Snadden-Wilson’s short menu will be inspired by European and Parisian wine bars with a veg focus, with most things cooked in the custom woodfire oven by the Brick Chef.

Clover will bake its own sourdough daily and experiment with ferments and pickling.

Kubis will pour 20 wines by the glass, that’ll change regularly, with more than 200 bottles available from an off-site wine cellar.

“Certainly we’ll have natural wines, but also any other wines that speak to a sense of place,” he said.

“We’ll have very traditional tastings from northern Rhone, right to wild and effervescent drops from Mt Gambier, and everything in between.”

And they’ll also have the drink that’ll be on every hipster’s lips this summer: “This is the year of lambrusco, so we’ll have one by the glass most of the time.”

Clover, 193 Swan St, Richmond.

Race ready

Westside foodies looking for a finer dining experience now have another option for their restaurant hit list.

Chef John Jo is behind a new elevated set menu at Moonee Valley’s Tote Dining, after noticing an increased appetite for degustations from his regulars.

“There is a lot of casual dining cuisine in the area, but people are wanting finer food in this area,” he said.

“I come from a fine dining background so thought we’d give it a go.”

The Moonee Valley restaurant is giving westside foodies a finer dining experience.

The former Lake House Daylesford and Bistro Guillaume chef has been cooking a contemporary offering with a Japanese twist at his Moonee Valley restaurant since 2019.

The venue, owned by Moonee Valley Racing Club, faced a turbulent couple of Covid lockdown years, but is now gearing up for spring racing season – and Jo has grand plans.

“The restaurant is quite big, so I want to try and have a finer dining experience in one area and have two types of offerings – casual and more elevated,” he said.

“One day I’ll have a chef’s degustation, but at the moment people want to celebrate and that’s why I created the four-courseset-menu.”

Punters can expect dishes such as blue fin tuna tartare with yuzu, Tasmanian grass-fed wagyu steak and dry-aged duck breast and confit duck leg with parsnip.

Tote Dining’s kitchen is led by a former Lake House Daylesford chef.

“My biggest wish is for people who live in places such as Essendon and Moonee Valley to enjoy local dining and not feel the need to go into the city to have a good experience,” he said.

Tote Dining is already booked up for the Cox Plate this Saturday but still has spots available for Manikato Stakes on Friday.

Tote Dining, 14 Freehan Ave, Moonee Ponds