"It's like a second home for people, it's not just a café", says Lin Sunner.
Lin, 68, is in charge at Sans Café, which has been found on Lightbody Street in Vauxhall since the 1960s. At first, it feels an unlikely location for such a place - the café's red and yellow exterior makes for a striking change from the surrounding industrial landscape.
The ECHO visits Sans on a bitterly cold Tuesday afternoon, as Liverpool's Northern Docks have a coating of snow and ice. Inside the café, Lin and her family work to prepare their extensive menu of Chinese and English dishes.
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Taking refuge from the January chill are a group of workmen with hot drinks, a couple enjoying a late lunch, and Sans regular Martin, while Lin's family work on food preparation in the corner. Everybody inside knows Lin by name.
As she takes a break from cooking, leaving the kitchen in the capable hands of daughter Jane and grandson Jamie, Lin spoke to the ECHO about the cafe's origins, its family ethos and enduring popularity.
Sans was established by Tseng Chikha in the late 1960s. Tseng, who hailed from Sichuan served in the Chinese armed forces on the front line in Burma during the Second World War.
Tseng had to leave the army after being wounded. He then joined the British Merchant Navy, bringing him to Liverpool.
Once in Liverpool, Tseng set up Sans - named after failed attempts to pronounce his first name. It served the vast numbers of workers on and around the city's Northern Docks.
Offering English and Irish breakfasts as well as Sichuan dishes, the café has remained there since. Tseng died in 2014, but his partner Lin and their family continue to run the establishment, which says "known as the hidden gem" on its front sign.
Lin told the ECHO: "It all started with San - Mr. San as he was known. He started it in the 1960s as a café / restaurant and chippy.
"We’re still cooking like we started - serving traditional Chinese food. People don’t really cook like this anymore.
"Most of the people who eat like this or cook like this are gone. We make our own stuff - everything is home-made. That’s why, once people have tasted the food, they always come back or tell their friends and family to come.
"We get very different people coming in now. Years ago, it was just ‘workies’ coming in for breakfast. But now we sell more Chinese food than breakfasts.
"Years ago, we had a chippy before we came down here. But here we mainly did breakfasts but we also did Chinese food and now more and more people want the Chinese food rather than the English food or the breakfasts.
"I think you can get breakfasts anywhere, but you can’t get this kind of Chinese food anywhere else - only here."
After plenty of talk about food and having never eaten at Sans before, I ask Lin what she recommends. "Depends how hungry you are" was her reply.
Breakfast felt like a long time ago, so "pretty hungry" is my answer. Lin says I have to try the Wor Tip (pork dumplings fried on one side and steamed on the other) and a chop suey roll. She added: "Wor Tip - that is the one, that's what people come for."
Six dumplings and a generously-sized roll arrive swiftly. They are very good - the chop suey roll is packed and very tasty, while the dumplings have a welcome crisp, giving way to a generous amount of pork within.
As I make my way through two dishes which would make a decent-sized lunch, I realise more food is to come. Like any nan, Lin makes sure you have more than enough.
She asks if I like salt and pepper chicken - a question which, in this city, has only one answer. Soon after, Lin returns with a plate of it and a rather large bowl of egg-fried rice to accompany. Lin's son Will follows with a bottle of hot sauce.
The salt and pepper chicken is superb - crisp on the outside and succulent inside, seasoned to perfection. The generous mound of rice to go with it is the perfect ballast for any Chinese meal.
As I spoke to Lin, her granddaughter Sophie was rolling chop suey and spring rolls. Family is front and centre at Sans - for good reason.
Lin explained: "All my family work here and help out. One of my grandkids has just started - so there are three generations working here.
"We’ve got my grandson, my granddaughter, my daughter getting involved. I’m very, very fussy. People cannot work with me because I have very high standards and with family I’ll get that.
"I’m not even cooking for my customers, I’m cooking for myself - I’m so fussy with the food. The way I like it, the way I want it to be, the way I serve it to the customers, is the way I’d have it myself. That’s how I like it.
"Customers can taste a good difference. We use fresh vegetables, fresh ingredients and we cook it there and then.
"We’ve had some people coming in for years - it’s like a second home for people. It’s not just a café. That TikTok fella came in and he’s been back since."
The TikTok fella is 'The Scouse Ghetto Gourmet', who reviews restaurants around Merseyside. He visited Sans in October and in his verdict, he said Sans was the best Chinese meal he had ever eaten.
He added: "It wasn't like going to a restaurant or a cafe. It's like going to your nan's for a Sunday roast - you know, where your nan makes the best comfort food."
He's not wrong. In front of me are four Chinese dishes, all excellent and all representing a marked change from what is served at most restaurants. It is home-style cooking at its very best, enlivening a grey winter's day.
The portions are quite something too. I'm left with some dumplings and rice to take away as I roll back down the Dock Road to the ECHO office, safe in the knowledge that I've found a new favourite.
As I leave, Lin delivers a bowl of special curry and egg fried rice to a family's table. "I hope you're hungry, matey", she says to the dad, and chuckles as the sizeable dish is placed on the table. It looks sublime - yet another reason to return.
Sans is not your usual restaurant. It is all the better for it.
Once you are welcomed through the door, you are a guest in another family's kitchen. As Lin promised me, now that I've tried the food, I will be back.
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