Axil Coffee Roasters, Southern Cross Lane

"Under the Southern Cross I stand/A jaffle iron in my hand." So go the opening lines of an early draft of the Australian cricket team's victory song. Or not.

The tradition of chanting this ditty after a win is said to have started in 1984, when wins were scarcer. It was adapted from a patriotic song of the 1890s, "Australia, or Heart to Heart and Hand to Hand", which featured the lines "Beneath the Southern Cross we stand/And shout 'God bless our Native land'/Australia! Australia! a!" (as in "eh?")

Why the jaffle iron was replaced by "a sprig of wattle" remains a mystery. Or not. The American campfire toastie maker was part of many an Australian childhood, and a jaffle is just as 'strayan as a hamburger or fish 'n' chips.

Apple was the favourite filling in our kitchen, steaming, soft slices of it. The tongue-burn was complemented by the carbonised crusts of white bread clinging to the edges of the little toasty flying saucers.

The jaffles at the new Axil Coffee Roasters cafe – in the food court behind Southern Cross Tower near the corner of Bourke and Exhibition streets – are meant as "an old-school grab-and-go sandwich for the city worker," says Axil's Dave Makin.

They're more sophisticated than the traditional apple, banana or baked bean, though no less "Australian". Egg, bacon and cheese (with tomato relish) is a riff on the breakfast roll, while the ham-and-cheese toastie gets a run as meaty ham hock threaded into tangy, molten aged cheddar.

While the jaffles are assembled and toasted on site, the ingredients prep happens at Axil's Hawthorn headquarters, and the stamp of that smart cafe kitchen is on a thyme-roasted mushroom and gruyere version. The mushrooms are chunky and savoury-sweet, the gruyere just the right kind of runny-cheesy for a mid-morning overload.

At $6.50 for one or $9.50 for two, these jaffles are good value – especially when you move up the flavour scale to confit duck and white bean: sweet, tender duck meat, more molten cheese (provolone this time) and little beads of nicely cooked cannellini beans.

The menu featured waffles early on, in Axil flavours like peanut butter, chocolate, banana and candied popcorn, but the pen-pushers of SX1 and SX2 (as the towers are shorthanded) didn't bite, says Makin.

The jaffles, plus Doughboy doughnuts and Rustica Sourdough Bakery pastries, will make the new Axil a draw for east-end workers seeking a mid-morning break or a quick lunch.

The clincher, though, is the coffee. There are places to stand up and sample some of Melbourne's best brews at this end of town – notably Axil's own pocket-handkerchief espresso bar in Flinders Lane and the standing-room-only Traveller in Crossley Street – but the new Axil has seats, and tables, and table service.

Coffee comes as espresso extractions of Axil's seasonal blend – good for milky coffee – and weekly single origins. Filter fans can go a batch brew of the single origin, and if a recent juicy and full-flavoured Colombia Las Lejanias is any guide, black coffee lovers are in for a treat under the Southern Cross.

Dish ... Confit duck jaffle.

Do… Bring a friend: jaffles are just $9.50 for two..

Don't… Join the takeaway queue – there's table service.

Vibe ... White-collar canteen.