RFK Rankings · Melbourne
Best Restaurants for Brunch in Melbourne (2026)
All-day brunch · Melbourne · 7 cafes ranked · Updated June 2026
Compiled by the Restaurants for Kings editorial team · Published February 27, 2024 · Updated June 9, 2026 · Reviewed by Fredrik Filipsson, Editor-in-Chief · How we rank · Corrections
Melbourne invented the modern brunch the rest of the world copies: the roastery-cafe, the ricotta hotcake, the single-origin filter poured like wine. The scene runs north through Fitzroy and Collingwood and back into a converted CBD power station. These seven, ranked, are where to spend a Saturday morning in the city that takes its coffee more seriously than anyone.
1.Proud Mary
Nolan Hirte's defining Collingwood roastery and its saffron-pear ricotta hotcakes; book the weekend table at Melbourne's coffee benchmark.
Nolan Hirte opened Proud Mary at 172 Oxford Street in Collingwood in 2009 and turned it into one of the cafes that shaped Melbourne's third-wave coffee identity. The ricotta hotcakes with saffron pears, rose mascarpone and toasted almonds run about AUD 24 to 28.
The warehouse room is big and loud, the in-house roastery drives the coffee list, and the weekend queue is real. This is the benchmark Melbourne roastery brunch, so reserve or come early.
2.Top Paddock
Where Melbourne's ricotta-hotcake craze started, in a bright Richmond room; book the weekend table for the most photographed plate in town.
Top Paddock runs an all-day cafe at 658 Church Street in Richmond, widely credited as where Melbourne's ricotta-hotcake trend began. The blueberry and ricotta hotcakes with double cream, maple and toasted seeds run about AUD 23.
The seasonal menu changes through the year, the room is bright and busy, and the hotcakes are among the most photographed brunch plates in the city. Reservations are recommended on weekends.
3.Industry Beans
A glass-walled Fitzroy roastery where you watch the coffee made; come for the OG avocado smash and a fortnightly coffee list.
Brothers Trevor and Steven Simmons run Industry Beans at 70 Westgarth Street in Fitzroy, a specialty-coffee roastery and all-day brunch room with a glass-walled roasting space. The OG avocado smash and the fig and goat's cheese omelette anchor a menu that relaunches every quarter, with mains around AUD 22 to 26.
You watch coffee roasted through the glass while the coffee menu rotates fortnightly. Open seven days, it is a coffee destination first and a brunch room a close second.
4.Higher Ground
Melbourne's most dramatic brunch room, a converted CBD power station built on a spiced shakshuka; book for the space.
Higher Ground runs an all-day brunch across a converted 19th-century power station at 650 Little Bourke Street in the CBD, with soaring multi-storey volumes. The shakshuka of eggs poached in spiced tomato with house sourdough runs about AUD 22.
The room is the headline, a multi-level heritage fit-out unlike any cafe in the city. This is the pick when the table and the space matter as much as the cooking.
5.Napier Quarter
A Fitzroy corner cafe that turns natural-wine bar by night, famous for its anchovy toast; come for an unhurried brunch.
Daniel Lewis and Simon Benjamin opened Napier Quarter at 359 Napier Street in Fitzroy in 2016, a seasonal European cafe that turns into a natural-wine bar after dark. The anchovy toast with house mayo, salsa verde and sliced boiled egg is so iconic Broadsheet published the recipe; brunch plates run about AUD 18 to 24.
The corner room is small and easy on conversation. Come for a slow European brunch rather than a stacked-pancake plate.
6.The Hardware Société
A laneway French-Spanish brunch of chorizo baked eggs and lobster benedict; book the colourful CBD room for the most photographed plates downtown.
Will and Pam Keleti run The Hardware Société at 10 Katherine Place in the CBD, a laneway brunch institution that built a global reputation off colourful French-Spanish plates. The chorizo baked eggs, lobster benedict and tuna millefeuille anchor a menu that runs about AUD 25 to 32.
The room is bright and busy and the plates are made to be photographed. Reserve or queue on weekends; this is the CBD's most-photographed brunch.
7.Lune Croissanterie
Kate Reid's glass-cube croissanterie, once called the world's best by the New York Times; come early before the twice-baked almond sells out.
Kate Reid, a former Formula 1 aerodynamicist, founded Lune in 2012 and runs the Fitzroy flagship at 119 Rose Street, where pastry is made in a glass-walled climate-controlled cube. The twice-baked almond croissant and the rotating Lune Lab cruffins lead a counter where pastries run about AUD 7 to 14.
The New York Times once called Lune's croissant the best in the world, in 2016. Items sell out by mid-morning, so this is a pastry-first brunch you arrive early for.
Not for everyone
Great rooms, but not the brunch pick
Cumulus Inc.. Andrew McConnell's Flinders Lane room is open and excellent, but it is an all-day European restaurant, not a brunch cafe; breakfast is a limited Full English window until 11:30. Save it for lunch or dinner rather than a Saturday brunch.
The Hardware Société Paris. The famous Paris outpost of the Melbourne brunch brand closed in 2025, so do not chase it abroad. The Melbourne CBD rooms above are the live ones; book Katherine Place.
Closed Fitzroy windows. Several small Fitzroy windows shut in recent years as the scene consolidated, including a couple of pastry and pie windows on Napier and Rose streets. Stick to the established cafes above rather than chasing a defunct window.
How to brunch well in Melbourne
Melbourne's brunch heart is the northern inner suburbs: Fitzroy and Collingwood along Oxford, Westgarth, Rose and Napier streets, with Richmond's Church Street a short tram south. A slow morning can move from a roastery to a croissanterie to a wine-bar cafe without leaving the north.
The CBD holds the grand-room picks, the converted power station and the laneway French-Spanish brunch. Weekend queues are the norm at the roasteries and Lune, so reserve where you can, arrive early at the croissanterie before pastries sell out, and treat the coffee list as part of the meal.
Frequently asked
Where is the best brunch in Melbourne?
Proud Mary in Collingwood is the benchmark, Nolan Hirte's roastery-cafe built around saffron-pear ricotta hotcakes and an in-house coffee program. For the original hotcakes, Top Paddock in Richmond started the craze; for the most dramatic room, Higher Ground in the CBD serves brunch across a converted power station.
Which Melbourne cafe has the best coffee?
Industry Beans in Fitzroy and Proud Mary in Collingwood are the roastery picks, both pouring single-origin coffee made on site. Industry Beans rotates its coffee menu fortnightly and roasts behind glass at 70 Westgarth Street, while Proud Mary's Oxford Street room helped define Melbourne's third-wave scene.
Do you need a reservation for brunch in Melbourne?
Yes at the destination cafes. Proud Mary, Top Paddock and The Hardware Société fill their weekend tables, so reserve rather than walk up. Lune Croissanterie does not take brunch bookings and sells out of pastries by mid-morning, so arrive early at the Rose Street cube instead.
What should I order for brunch in Melbourne?
Order the ricotta hotcakes at Top Paddock or Proud Mary, the dish Melbourne is known for, or the anchovy toast at Napier Quarter for something savoury. At Lune, go for the twice-baked almond croissant; at The Hardware Société, the chorizo baked eggs and lobster benedict are the signatures.
Is Cumulus Inc. a good brunch in Melbourne?
Not really. Cumulus is one of the city's best all-day restaurants, but its breakfast is a limited window rather than a full brunch service, so it is a lunch or dinner pick. For a proper Melbourne brunch, the Fitzroy and CBD cafes above are the destinations.
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