You want to know our PhD dissertation on the perfect local bar? The non-negotiables include a great drinks list (well, der) and a parade of snacks that hold up their half of the world.

Add a top location, design smarts that make anyone taking a seat feel good about life and staff able to negotiate the friendly-professional nexus with acrobatic ease. Good music, too. Scatter the whole thing with X-factor, and voila.

Going by the heaving Friday night crowd, the alchemy has been achieved at Yarraville’s Ms Botanica. Opened late last year in the amble-friendly heart of the suburb’s village, it has transformed a former Japanese restaurant into a moody-hued bar where chandeliers of faux greenery add a froth of interest to a classical fit-out of banquettes, bentwood chairs, artfully distressed brick walls and all the rest.

As is the way of all bars these days, it has a speciality (gin) while the growing ranks of the sober curious are treated to zero-proof spirits gussied into faux-mojito and a vegan-friendly gin sour.

It’s a place that sweats over the little things; glassware, for instance. The sweet-leaning Veuve Ambal sparkling rosé (no, not that Veuve) arrives in the love child of a coupe and a goblet, while sloe gin going sympatico with strawberry gum shrub gets the cut crystal treatment.

As a bar, it’s solid. But you can imagine owners Stacie Sinclair and Scott Rice fist-pumping when they scored James Cornwall, ex-head chef from Andrew McConnell’s Cumulus Inc, to head the kitchen. In these apocalyptic days of chef shortages, it’s like striking gold while winning Tatts, and Cornwall does his CV proud without overselling the local-friendly premise.

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About a dozen snacks sing in a big-flavoured key. Sydney Rock oysters anointed with the holy trinity of shiso vinegar, finger lime and pink peppercorn – the trio of big flavours still allowing to let the oyster’s briny freshness to shine through – are the perfect comeback to anyone who maintains they prefer their bivalves unadulterated.

Fried crumbed balls of beetroot and bocconcini dabbed with a sweet, fat-scything beetroot relish, are so oozy you’ll need cutlery. Fluffy little brown butter and seaweed madeleines are capped with smoked pops of salmon roe on a thick, artery-hardening smoosh of crème fraiche; it’s like the ghost of Cumulus flitting through the room. And smoked lamb croquettes amp the dial up to 11 and take along for the ride a puddle of almond cream and the floral note of rose harissa.

Wagyu rump cap going a decidedly McConnell-esque route with “café de Tokyo butter” is the only other meat on the menu, but an oyster mushroom with a slightly sharp-cloying macadamia butter holds up the meat-for-vegetarians mantra. Both those dishes are crying out for a serve of the skinny fries, which go straight for the flavour jugular with saltbush and vinegar.

It’s crowd-pleasing stuff, and the crowd has responded in kind. The Astroturfed parklet out front is filled with people and their pooches, while excellent staff keep the ebb and flow of the night in good order. Some people stay for a single drink, others settle in until late. Ms Botanica is what you make it, and that’s just fine with us.

Related review Lilac Wine brings superb vino and snacks to a warehouse in Cremorne