Liverpool is full of delicious places to eat but not all are as conventional as a swanky city centre restaurant.
Some of the city’s best treasures are hidden gems, that are only known by some people who happen to come across them by accident
Sans on Lightbody Street, near the dock road, is one of those places.
Many of Sans Cafe’s visitors are dockside workers or those who have visited thanks to the recommendations of previous customers.
There is no flashy social media campaign, no gimmick, just a brightly painted cafe with plenty of five star reviews.
Sans was opened around the 1970s by Tseng Chikha from Sichuan, China, known locally as San by his loyal customers who struggled to pronounce his real name.
Tseng was forced to leave China, just 16 years old, because of the Japanese War. After that, he was drafted into the Chinese army which eventually led him to the Burmese front line in late 1941.
After 18 months in battle, Tseng was too wounded to carry on and was forced to look for other work.
That’s when he joined the British Merchant Navy and found himself settled in Liverpool. Tseng was made redundant by the Blue Funnel Line in 1965 and opened a small cafe on the dockside rustling up native Sichuan food for workers. Sans has been there ever since.
Tseng died in 2014, but his partner Lin still cooks up the much loved food in the cafe.
Lin makes everything from homely British traditional meals and breakfasts to Chinese meals.
Customers are drawn to the Vauxhall eatery for Lin's charismatic charm as much as the fiery food.
A character with a flair for cooking, Lin guarantees that after you've tried her food once, you'll be back for more.
What is the food like?
There are British meals and breakfast dishes on the menu but if you're heading to Sans for the first time you should opt for a Chinese meal.
Nowadays many Chinese takeaways in the UK taste the same - salty and unathentic.
But not Sans. It's still fresh and cooked from scratch from Lin and it shows.
Lin hasn't changed any of her recipes to cater to English taste buds. So when you dine at Sans, you'll never go back to your typical Chinese takeaway.
Highlights on the menu include dumplings, chop suey roll, savoury cakes, chow mien and the special curry.
If the vast menu scares you, Lin is more than happy to advise you on what's best for you.
*Sans Cafe is open from 7am to 3pm - so if you want Chinese for tea - it's best to pick it up early and warm it up later*
More reviews of Sans Cafe:
After hearing nothing but great things from those who have visited the dockside cafe, some ECHO reporters tried the food for themselves to see if it lived up to the hype.
ECHO's Gemma Jaleel said: " The chop suey roll was really tasty packed full of meat and vegetables and the pastry was thick and delicious.
"The chow mein noodles were packed full of flavour."
Catherine Murphy said: "I was sceptical that anything would beat my usual chippy order - but it did.
"The curry was one of the best I've had and definitely the best in Liverpool."
Other five star TripAdvisor reviews read: "San's Cafe is one of the last remaining traditional workers cafe's in Liverpool and is a bit of institution to many people in the North Docks.
"Always a very warm welcome and friendly service and the chicken fried rice is the best you will find anywhere - absolutely delicious!"
Another reviewer commented: "The lady who runs the restaurant is very pleasant and is happy to tell you all about her menu. She very kindly gave me one of her freshly made savoury cakes which I had for my tea.
"My goodness it was fantastic and reminded me of chippy food 20 years ago, you should make it your business to try this little gem, I know I will go again very soon."
