Yet, I couldn't help but take a seat when passing by a sign that read Hardware Société, with the locations listed as Paris and Melbourne.

Nestled under the Sacré-Coeur, the cafe stood out to me because, yes, it looked like a venue from home - warm, vibrant, friendly, smelling of coffee beans and deliciously cooked food.

I love Paris, clearly, but as I stood in the doorway listening to all the Australian accents and looking at the plates of colourful brunch, I swelled with pride and was delighted to find a slice of home amongst the cobblestones and grand buildings.

A man with a bald head, beard and covered in tats looking like he had indeed stepped out from behind a bar in Melbourne greeted me with a "G'day".

As he sat me down and gave me the classic Aussie hospitality, I soon learnt who he was.

Jesse Keane ("Call me Jess", he said), Operations Manager.

Over two oat flat whites and a Tuna Millefeuille ( I don't usually order seafood so far from the ocean, but I trusted this place) I bombarded Jess with questions, and being the friendly bloke he is, he obliged.

Only recently he'd come out from the kitchen to front of house. He'd wanted to be a chef from the age of eight.

As a young boy and sick on a school day, Jess was taken to work with his mother who was a waitress at "Chalkies", a modern-Italian venue in 1980's Melbourne.

After service, he recalls one of the apprentice chefs offering to him something to eat. He was served veal scallopini with a rose sauce, with mushrooms and olives.

"I had never eaten veal before, I didn't know what a rose sauce was, and as a child I detested mushrooms and olives, but I ate it all and I loved it," Jess said. "I thought, 'this is cool'."

The head chef at the time drove a convertible MG, adding to the cool scale.

And so after dropping out of school at age 15 to wash dishes, he's spent most of his career as a sous chef or head chef.

"You're going to have to do something for money; find something you enjoy," he said. "I've enjoyed what I've done."

Hardware Société Paris, was born from a Melbourne cafe, with a third venue now in Barcelona. In all three spots, Aussies sniff out the Marketlane coffee bean which is flown into all three Hardware venues.

"Aussies come back multiple times during a trip to Paris," Jess said. "Paris is not traditionally known as a place for breakfast. We joke and say that Parisian breakfast is a cigarette and an espresso."

(see mum!)

Ellie Chamberlain,

Journalist