New study finds Melbourne has the best brunches in Australia (and 11th best in the world)

The old Sydney-Melbourne rivalry has been given fresh life this week with the release of worldwide brunch rankings from money.co.uk. The cities with the most french toast and Mimosas, and those doing brunch best were the focus of the study, a vital contribution to public debate if there ever was one.

Melbourne came out on top in Australia, no surprise given it's the nation's unofficial coffee capital and its residents love a sleep-in.

Sydney's up-and-at-em lifestyle was reflected in the higher number of spots serving brunch, but these venues weren't quite hitting the spot for locals, with a lower number of 'excellent' reviews than Melbourne brunch destinations. Regardless, Sydney's brunch game was declared second-best in the country.

Worldwide, Melbourne was ranked 11th for its handle on the finer points of bottomless prosecco and folded eggs, while Sydney charted at spot 20 for its ricotta hotcakes.

The rankings were compiled using Google search data for "brunch" and "bottomless brunch", which showed bottomless brunch is a definite trend of recent years. Searches for the phrase barely registered before 2015.

To find the top brunch spots in the world, Trip Advisor data on the number of brunch restaurants and how users rate them was used. The number one city worldwide for late risers seeking omelettes and OJ was Chicago, which doesn't have many spots to enjoy brunch (less than 10 per cent of all its restaurants), but the ones it does have are loved dearly by residents.

Melbourne had more than 650 restaurants on Trip Advisor who say they offer brunch, while Sydney boasted more than 900. Which opens up a whole new debate about which city truly is the brunch capital.

The data-mining was commissioned by online comparison tool money.co.uk. Why would a financial information site want to tell people where the best brunch is, you ask? To help you choose where to buy a house, of course.

Not that bottomless brunches will be an option when you're mortgaged to your eyeballs. After all, avocado toast is the number-one barrier to home ownership for Gen Y.

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