The Clover Team To Open Fleurie, a Modern Bistro in Armadale

Since it opened in late 2022, Hot Listed Clover has been one of the city’s sharpest wine bars. The 50-seat venue, owned by Lyndon Kubis and chef Charley Snadden-Wilson, expertly blends the relaxed ambience of a neighbourhood local with the technique and style of two serious food and drink pros.

In December, the pair will open their second venue together, on Beattie Avenue in Armadale. Named for a style of beaujolais wine, Fleurie will take over a shopfront that locals know well – the old Chez Bob site, with its blue and red-brick facade and striped black-and-white awning.

“It’s going to be a modern bistro,” Kubis says. “Very Clover-esque with a few more French accents, with Charley’s touch. Jovial dining, but with Charley’s precision.” Group general manager Sarah Reilly is joining the pair as an owner.

Inside will have space for 30 to 40 people, with more seats outside thanks to the property’s large outdoor terrace and leafy courtyard. A private dining room will round out the offering. The team has re-enlisted Clover designer Alex Lake, from Therefore Studio, for a warm, timber-driven interior.

This far out, the menu hasn’t been confirmed. But “there will always be roast chicken on the menu, for instance,” Kubis says. “This is a neighbourhood restaurant. At the end of the day, we’re there to serve the neighbourhood. So, if they tell us they want steak frites, then we won’t fight against that.”

The wine list is more personal. “Fleurie will have an unreasonably big wine list that we don’t need, you know, just for our own passions,” Kubis says. “We’re lovers of beaujolais wine, so there will be special emphasis on the wines of Beaujolais.” 

Fleurie is four doors down from Kubis’s wine store and bar, Toorak Cellars, where he got his start in hospitality two decades ago. After four years working at what was then just a bottle shop, he bought the business in 2010 before going on to open a clique of the city’s best neighbourhood wine bars, including Milton Wine Bar, The Alps and most recently Clover in Richmond. 

Kubis recalls his early days at Toorak Cellars, when Beatty Avenue was so quiet in January he and his co-workers played cricket on the road. Since then it’s benefited from an influx of new tenants like Pony, Neighbourhood Pizza and Hank’s Bagelry, alongside long-term, perennially popular tenants like Moby and “the Cellars”. 

“A lot of people have come and gone, and we’ve been here the longest to see those changes. The current tenancy mix has resonated with locals,” Kubis says. “The businesses are complementary to each other.  It’s finally just this great little mix of places, and a precinct worth traveling for, I think.”

Certainly, fans of Clover will be enticed to make the journey. Kubis and Snadden-Wilson have landed on a winning formula at the Swan Street bar, which they hope to replicate at Fleurie.   

“[It’s] kind of a fine line,” Kubis says. “How do we make this approachable, but also for an occasion? I think in Melbourne at the moment, there needs to be that diversity.

“People can drop in, call in just on a weeknight, walk in with no booking, but they can also have their birthday there or an anniversary, which is a bit tricky at times, but that’s definitely what we’re aspiring to.”

Fleurie is due to open at 22 Beatty Avenue, Armadale in December 2026.