In New Hands, The Cool Room Transforms Seasonal, Simple Breakfasts Into Everyday Pleasures

The Cool Room has always been a neighbourhood spot with soul. Now, in the hands of chef Drew Dawson and his partner, baker Charlotte Beeton, the East Fremantle cafe has entered a new chapter – one grounded in simplicity, seasonality and the kind of hospitality that makes you want to linger.

“I’m really trying to bring this back to the fundamentals, with nods to the old-school English ways of eating. My grandparents used to sit down and eat breakfast like this every day,” Dawson tells Broadsheet. “I’m not giving you 1000 options. It’s just not that kind of cafe.”

Instead, Dawson has built a short, curated menu that delights without overwhelming. The menu starts with a seasonal market fruit plate, cut to order – at the moment the selection includes dolci and blood oranges, Packham pears and missile apples. “It’s lovely, especially if you’re coming with two, three people, because it’s something nice to share.”

The Cool Room granola – inspired by a recipe from New York’s Eleven Madison Park – is mixed with Meredith sheep’s milk yoghurt and poached seasonal fruit. “It’s very simple, very nourishing and very delicious,” he says. “We use lots of rye, spelt, barley and buckwheat, with sour cherries, maple syrup, olive oil and salt. It’s a nice balance of sweet and salty.”

Bread is another star. A toast course offers three varieties – including a Guinness and treacle soda bread Dawson bakes in-house, alongside slices from Hunter Bread – with whipped butter, house-made jams and marmalades. “If I’m going to put three or four components on a plate, and one of them is bread, it needs to be the best bread,” he says.

For something heartier, there’s a bacon bap slathered with prune and apple ketchup – one of the few indulgences on an otherwise restrained menu. “I’ve sort of taken the mindset I would use to create an evening menu, and have applied it to breakfast,” Dawson says.

The ethos here goes beyond what’s on the plate. “There’s few small pleasures I like in life more than just taking some time in the morning to enjoy good bread with jam and butter. It’s like that feeling of being looked after at your Gran’s house. The little things in life that make you feel good.”

It’s a philosophy Dawson credits to his upbringing in London and time spent working in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and more recently Fremantle, where he cooked at Peggy’s, Nieuw Ruin, Lola’s and Beaconsfield Wine Bar, as well as running his Italian-inspired pop-up Off Licence. But The Cool Room, he says, feels different. “I feel great about what we’re doing here. It’s energised me. It’s given me a lot of purpose.”

Beeton, meanwhile, is filling the counter with bakes – think mandarin and polenta cake or brown butter rye and chocolate cookies. Together, they’re shaping a space that is as much about community as it is about food.

“We just want to do something nice for the community, something a little bit different, and hopefully become part of people’s routine,” Dawson says. “Not everyone’s gonna be in love with what we do here, and that’s fine. If you want eggs done your way with avocado, there are 100 places that do that.”

Future plans include adding set-menu dinners and long lunches, applying the same ethos of simplicity and care to more elaborate meals. But for now, Dawson is content with the morning ritual. “You have a nice breakfast, you’re welcomed in a warm space by people that enjoy working here, you leave feeling refreshed – and that is what it’s all about, isn’t it?”

The Cool Room
2/114 Holland Street, Fremantle
0403 701 726

Hours:
Thu to Sat 8am–1.30pm
Sun 8am–12.30pm

@coolroomcafe