Funds are dwindling, your Christmas shopping list keeps growing, and the group chat is full of frantic messages about organising “one last catch-up” before the end of the year. It must be mid-December.

Forget locking into a three-hour restaurant lunch. Five newly opened bars offer the kind of low-commitment fun many diners seek as Christmas draws closer.

These newcomers are like the Goldilocks of end-of-year socialising – not too expensive, yet polished and ready for anything – drinks, dinner, dessert.

At Bourke Street’s four-level French fun house Maison Batard, diners treat its chic monochromic rooftop terrace as “effectively a second restaurant”, says owner Chris Lucas, who opened the venue two weeks ago.

“Our food sales up there have been huge compared to what I thought they would be,” he says.

With table service, the option to book, a 1am licence and a menu that spans crab salad to club sandwiches, La Terrasse is emblematic of a new breed of bars built for more than just drinking. Recent examples include Prahran’s Gigi Salon, Barra on Little Collins Street and Le Splendide in South Yarra.

It’s the balance between easygoing and elegant that’s behind the appeal of La Terrasse and these other bars, Lucas believes.

Rooftop bars are not a purely inner-city trend, either. Gambino is a freshly opened top-deck bar in Glen Waverley with Italian Riviera styling, antipasti, spritzes and pizza.

“Rooftops are a dime a dozen in the city, but it’s a pretty unique space out this way,” says owner Garen Maskal.

Gambino Rooftop

Glen Waverley residents can get their rooftop bar fix without an eye-watering Uber fare at this Amalfi chic newcomer. Yellow and white striped loungers are the flattering backdrop to moments with limoncello spritzes, petite chicken cotoletta rolls and antipasti such as grilled peppers with white anchovies. Seven pizzas, from cheesy potato to ’nduja with confit onion, come on bases that owner Garen Maskal says are a Neapolitan-Aussie hybrid.

Perfect for: Drinks with your footy/netball/soccer team or a group of parents from school.

Level 6, 73–75 Kingsway, Glen Waverley, gambino.au

Maison Batard’s Terrasse

Chris Lucas’s Batard opened with plenty of fanfare. But the sleeper hit might be La Terrasse, the shaded bar with a regal central courtyard on the top floor. White-jacketed waiters bring over seafood platters, champagne cocktails (including a bold remix of the Pina Colada) and cheeseburgers, which join a handful of dishes from the restaurant downstairs (yes, including that chocolate mousse). You can book, but tables are also reserved for walk-ins.

Perfect for: Tight team catch-ups, ideally on the boss’s credit card.

23 Bourke Street, Melbourne, maisonbatard.com.au

Bear’s

Affordable wine? Tick. Easy-to-love snacks? Tick. A cosy room where you can linger? Yes, this charming new wine bar in North Melbourne has plenty to like. Inspired by the warmth and welcome of Britain’s best pubs, Bear’s is the kind of neighbourhood spot where potato cakes are jazzed up with anchovy cream, and there’s a happy hour from Wednesday to Friday featuring $15 Melbourne Bitter longnecks.

Perfect for: The last hurrah of the year with your BFF.

502 Queensberry Street, North Melbourne, bearswinebar.com.au

Mr Mills

This suave subterranean space is a den of inky corners, ringside seats at the bar and generous lounges – choose a spot to suit your mood. While upstairs sibling restaurant Marmelo is an ode to Portugal, down here it’s all about Spanish snacking, from the bikini (Barcelona’s answer to a ham and cheese toastie) to mackerel escabeche and a multicoloured take on pan con tomate called “two tomatoes on toast”. Drinks aren’t afraid to break rules: see the bergamot and apple margarita that’s boosted by Calvados.

Perfect for: Breakaway drinks with your inner circle when the official Christmas party is over.

Basement, 130 Russell Street, Melbourne, mrmillsbar.com.au

Mid Air

In the same building as Mr Mills, this 12th-storey venue strikes a different note, drenched in light and bathed in views of the city’s skyscrapers and treetops. While most of the space functions as a restaurant serving skewers, sundaes and dishes with a Greek bent, you can swing by and try your luck on the loungers set aside for walk-ins. Holiday-ready cocktails such as the Yumbo No. 5, a combo of pineapple, mango and macadamia, are ready to pair with strong snacks, including wagyu tartare on crumpets and more.

Perfect for: Your friends who need their bars to be as photogenic as them.

Level 12, 130 Russell Street, Melbourne, melbourneplace.com.au/midair