The way handsome Italian Edoardo Perlo sees it, Sydney was far enough from his tiny home town of San Remo in Italy that he could finally have some peace from his family.
And his cousin Stefano de Blasi agrees, though the pair didn't quite count on just how successful their burgeoning Italian gastronomic empire in Sydney would become when they started five years ago.
On Wednesday night they opened their fifth Salt Meats Cheese outlet, on Broadway. In August they hope to open a sixth outlet, in Bondi Junction.
"Every time we say we are going to take a break we find another new venue and end up opening there … it is crazy," Stefano admits.
Indeed the affable cousins' mystery trip to Australia in 2008, following a path of so many young Europeans seeking sunshine and surf, was not your average backpacker experience for the pair.
"We have worked very hard over five years and there have been some very big challenges … but you know we have learned so much about business in that time … we just tried to take small steps to where we are today," Stefano says.
But with their empire chugging along nicely, and with both cousins single as they approach their respective 30th birthdays, Stefano agrees it might be time to really settle in Sydney, and find a girlfriend.
"I am more the marrying kind," Stefano jokes, adding that his cousin "likes girls too but I don't know if is ready to settle down just yet."
Indeed both men have probably been too busy to focus on their romantic lives with about 80 staff feeding thousands of Sydneysiders each week
"I'm not quite sure our family back in Italy realises just how well this business has gone for us … they know we have done something good but I'm not sure they realise just how good," Stefano says with a broad smile.
Looks like they won't be going home to mama any time soon.
