How do I love thee Pippins, let me count the ways. First of all I always have and always will love…read moreyour quiches. They are amazing. They are served warm or cold (and warm doesn't mean soggy, they somehow stay crisp and light) with gargantuan side salads full of pasta and coleslaw and Waldorf and all sorts of lovely things. Varieties include broccoli and tomato, mushroom, cheese and onion, Lorraine, you name it, they've put it together.
The sandwiches always taste fresh too. Prawns, egg, cress, all lovely with a cup of tea. The soup is always hearty and warming. The cakes, pies, slices and pastries are astonishing. But the most impressive fact about Pippins is that all this is homemade. Even their salad cream.
I've been coming here for a bite ever since I was a little girl, and it hasn't changed a bit since then, apart from extending its opening hours to Sundays (perhaps a symptom of the recession but the fact that it's survived has made me woop with joy, it being open on Sundays just makes it even better). The same orange design, same cute apples with faces, same terracotta tiles, same trays, same kinds of things on the menu (but a wider drink choice and more options for veggies) all at the same great prices. In Pippins, there is a table full of magazines and newspapers to choose from while you eat. They always have a copy of Private Eye. This was our routine, my father and I, we'd grab Private Eye and a few supplements and settle down for lunch or a cake and a cuppa, him with a scone with clotted cream and jam (all homemade) and me with a slice of their stonking lemon meringue pie, their chocolate cake, a Millionaire's shortbread, an almond croissant, a giant cookie... there's just too much to choose from and I'd have them all if my body wasn't bound to reject that much sugar.
The staff at Pippins are lovely, always accommodating and cheerful. When I was little I always had a glass of fresh milk with my lunch, it was the only thing I'd drink, and Pippins still to this day has a brilliant milk cooling machine with a poster on it encouraging kids to drink up. It worked on me. I might have switched to caffeine since but it's a great touch. Proper large pots of tea, enough for about two and a half cups accompany a really relaxed, quiet ambience. You could quite easily stay in here all day and it has a lovely view of Southport's main shopping street. It's a stone's throw from the station too, and make sure you walk straight past Nero because when Pippins is on the same street it might as well not even be there.
This isn't just one of my favourite places in Merseyside, it's one of my favourite places in the world thus far. It might look a little dated, you might think you're the youngest person in there, but trust me, this adds to its charm. Gorgeous.
