Barhop: East End Den

Basement, 51 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne, 9650 9979, facebook.com/eastendden

Open Mon-Sat noon-late

Wheelchair access Yes (via Chifley Hotel)

Drink this 1806 cocktail – a refreshing take on a G&T that includes elderflower.

Eat this Lamb cutlets with caper, olive, garlic dressing.

Check this East End Denstays open until 3am from Thursday to Saturday.

It's good that East End Den is such an affable bar because its almost obsessive levels of box-ticking could otherwise be quite irritating. At first glance, it can seem like a place assembled via a market focus group. There's the basement/laneway location, open kitchen/bar, gaggle of terrariums, lashings of plywood (walls, furniture), a menu featuring not one but three varieties of slider and a cocktail list that includes a take on the inevitable espresso martini. Tick, tick, tick.

But – and this is a big but – there's a genuine level of hospitality here, an apparently real desire that you have a good time. A complete lack of pretentiousness seems to be the default setting. Add an approach to eating and drinking that's all about being user friendly plus the fact that the joint is open late most nights (until 3am on the weekends) and you can see East End Den finding a spot on your city repertoire.

Even the basement location – under, but not affiliated with, the Chifley Hotel – is friendly. Rather than being mysterious behind a potentially intimidating unmarked door, East End Den has an entrance that's all smoked glass so you can see down into the space. No hidden surprises.

Down a flight of concrete steps there's the a copper-topped bar at the back of the timber floored room and a variety of seating from raised tables and black metal bar stools with upholstered seats to some banquette seating over to one side. Add some comfortable stools around the kitchen/bar and it's a space that's as comfortable for solo nightcappers as it is for groups looking for dinner and drinks.

The booze list here is not particularly extensive (one page for cocktails, beer and cider, another for wine) but there are plenty of well-priced interesting things to drink that you're not going to have to work to hard for. Again, user-friendly.

Wines are mostly from Australia with a few Frenchies thrown in and most of them, aside from the most expensive bottles (2010 Wild Duck Creek shiraz from Heathcote, $120, tops the list), are available by the glass.

The cocktails are excellent, both those that are modelled on classic drinks and those that are exclusive to this bar. There's the 1806, for example that includes Hendricks gin, St Germaine elderflower liqueur, lime juice, cucumber and mint and is may be just what you need over the long hot summer. Then there's the Geisha Garden, a grown-up, interesting cocktail that's not too booze hefty and has gin, sake, green tea and an apple and thyme syrup sharing a glass.

The beer list sticks to the theme with one beer on tap (Mountain Goat Steam Ale), five by the bottle that include the likes of Moo Brew Pale Ale and one for fans of the can (the "is it actually ironic" VB).

With the kitchen and the bar sharing space it's not surprising that there's almost as much focus on the food as on the drinks.

The menu, again, opts for uncomplicated stuff. There are oysters that you can have as Bloody Mary shooters if you like, sliders, croquettes and cutlets, alongside bigger dishes that include pan-fried fish and a decent steak. With a pearl barley salad and sweet stuff like a pecan sundae in the mix, East End Den continues its something for everybody approach.

It may not be the coolest bar in town, but East End Den has its fair share of friendly charm that provides more than enough reason to check it out.