Warder's Hotel Fremantle and bottomless brunch at Emily Taylor's

Every now and then I will day dream about what it would be like to live in Fremantle. Maybe it’s the idea of sipping tea in a small courtyard out front - covered by greenery and trailing wisteria - or maybe it’s the short walk down eucalyptus lined streets to a tasty local cafe that feeds my fancies.

Matt had asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday and I hadn’t really given it much thought. Leesa - a Fremantle local and self proclaimed tour guide - suggested we stay the weekend at Warder’s Hotel, located conveniently behind the Fremantle Markets, and have a bottomless brunch at their restaurant Emily Taylor’s. So we did.

The Warder’s Hotel is “a small boutique hotel in the old limestone cottages that were once the Fremantle Warders’ homes.” It’s the latest addition to the Hugeaumont.

The cottages are full of old-world charm, remodelled with modern details and a cool and calming colour palate. I was surprised to find both sparkling and still cold water available on tap and that everything in the mini fridge and bar were complimentary. The chocolate bars didn’t last long.

We stayed in a Terrace Cottage room, located on the ground floor of the two-story cottage complex. This gave us access to our own semi-private courtyard, accessible from the bedroom, a large kitchenette and dining area, and two separate washroom facilities. An ironing rack and safe were neatly hidden in a built-in cupboard in the hallway and to the right at the end of the hallway was the bedroom. As soon as I entered, my nose was tickled with the scent of native flora, emanating from the dried flower arrangement sitting in the centre of a decommissioned fireplace.

We had a quick kip shortly after checking in. While the king sized bed and soft linen were lovely, unfortunately for me I was sleeping on the side closest to the fire place.

The fireplace hadn’t been fully finished - I think the cracked concrete and loose stones was supposed to be part of its charm - however this meant that when it came to accessing the bed or using the side table, I found myself having step on the unfinished stone surface which was a) inconvenient and b) painful on my bare feet. There wasn’t enough of a clearway to provide access and I found myself getting into bed from the other side.

The courtyard sat adjacent to central Henderson Street, and if you’re into it - it’s a good place to people watch. If you’re feeling adventurous you could walk a few doors down to Gimlet, the in-house cafe/bar that serves prosciutto and gruyere croissants (can’t go past a good ham and cheese combo) during the day time hours and aperitifs and other cocktails in the evening. Patrons staying at The Warders Hotel receive a complimentary baked good and coffee from Gimlet, and a free drink at Emily Taylor’s during cocktail hour.

We visited Gimlet the next morning, getting our coffee and treat to go, where we returned to the comfort of our own courtyard. The coffee was solid and the croissant was so good that I contemplated going back for another.

The rest of the weekend was spent exploring Fremantle. We visited the markets on the hunt for an earl grey macaron from Mtown and got coffee at Hush Espresso. We spent some time in the hotel, watching episodes of Terrace House and enjoying the opportunity to laze around.

The food was

When it came around to cocktail hour we headed over to Emily Taylors. Emily Taylor’s was buzzing, with a number of people scattered under the vibrant parasols sipping wine and nibbling on duck and prawn wontons and spring rolls.

We left Emily Taylors after a drink and headed to Tonic and Ginger in the Old Synagogue for dinner. That dinner was delicious. Every now and then I’ll think back on their sticky rendang curry and start to salivate.

The convenience of having Emily Taylor’s just outside our doorstep was a double-edged sword. Any noise from the restaurant carried through to our room and we soon discovered the room wasn’t sufficiently soundproof. The charm of having the private courtyard that looked out onto Henderson Street wavered too, as we were bombarded by sounds and music and commotion from both ends. Live music played until about 11pm and the curtains at the window weren’t thick enough to block out the drunken shouts at 2am.

We returned to Emily Taylor’s the next morning hoping that they could redeem our stay with a good bottomless brunch.

The wait staff were haphazard in their service, bringing out dish after dish without real recollection as to what had been already served to each table and what hadn't. The timing for serving was sporadic, sometimes w'ed receive a plate of two dumplings, only to eat one each and then wait for what seemed like ages before the next plate with the same mouthfuls came around. Other times, we’d be bombarded with all sorts of plates in no particular order.

Unlike in a usual Yum Cha restaurant where the food was constantly rotating on trolleys or taken out on trays for you to pick and choose from - you were left waiting and not knowing what you’d get next. We had to flag a few wait staff down a couple of times to request specific dishes after we came to realise (from looking over at neighbouring eaters) that we’d missed out on the rice or the squid - two yum cha staples. If you waited for all of the dishes to come out, so that you could select and vary it up, you ended up with somewhat cold or lack lustre dumplings.

Eating at Emily Taylor’s was okay, but definitely not anything I would write home about. I’ll stick to my usual dim sum ritual. I much prefer picking out as many dishes as the table wants from a broad array and digging into it then and there, steaming hot dumplings and soft char siu bao, knowing that you have reliable service and requests could be made at any time. Comfort of knowing

For $75 per person, Emily Taylor’s left much to be desired.

Although The Warder’s Hotel was lovely and quaint, there were a few things that needed further refinement and attention to detail. The disabled handrail had come away from the wall in the toilet and hadn’t been fixed prior to the next check-in, and there wasn’t really anywhere close by to hang hand towels near the sink. The layout of the hotel rooms was interesting too, with two separate bathroom areas which seemed like an inefficient use of space - there could have been another lounge, bedroom or spa bath in there - although the owners may have wanted to retain as much of the original walls and layout as possible.

The lemons and limes left for use at the counter were old and when I cut into them I found they’d been rotting inside, so I suspect that they may not have been changed with fresh fruit for a while. Unless you pulled the card out that powered the electricity throughout the room from its holder, one of the lights in the hallway didn’t turn off. Pulling the card out meant that the sensor lights then didn’t turn on in the middle of the night when you needed a quick toilet stop, which made it hard to navigate from the bedroom to the toilet. There was no door between the kitchen/dining area and hallway through to the bedroom to block out both the light and noise that travelled from the neighbouring restaurants. The hallway ended up becoming a sound tunnel, pushing noise from one end of the hotel to the other.