Greens Café, Southsea – PERMANENTLY CLOSED

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Greens Cafe, St.Helen’s Parade, Southsea.

PERMANENTLY CLOSED 2019

Greens Café is situated by Canoe Lake in Southsea and is owned by Canoe Lake Leisure Ltd., (click here to find out more about them). It has plenty of outside seating which overlooks the children’s playpark, pretty flower beds and Canoe Lake itself. To the rear are picnic tables and the tennis courts.

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Inside the cafe

It’s in a great location with plenty to see and do. The peaceful Rose Gardens is only a hop, skip and a jump away where there is also a memorial for the famous Cockleshell Heroes; the Royal Marine’s Museum is a bit further along the road in Eastney; South Parade Pier, ahem, okay nothing really to see there YET, but hopefully very soon. I could go on and on about what is on offer along the seafront in our home town of Portsmouth but this is really a review of Greens Café so I’ll stop there.

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Breakfast menu

There is something for everyone on the menu for both breakfast and lunch with a couple of daily specials.

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‘The Hot One’

We went for breakfast one sunny Sunday morning in October. Geoff chose ‘The Hot One’ which was two very long and thin chipolatas, scrambled egg and bacon served on toasted sourdough with a dish of baked beans.

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‘Bacon & eggs’

I had the ‘Bacon & Eggs’ which were two poached eggs and bacon on sourdough served with a lovely large garlic roasted flat mushroom, pesto and a few rocket leaves. This was very nice indeed with everything tasting very fresh. I couldn’t taste the garlic in the mushroom but this wasn’t a problem, I love mushrooms.

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Flapjack

Up at the counter there were lots of cakes to choose from. Orange & polenta, which is a favourite of mine, lemon drizzle, flapjacks etc., No fruit cake unfortunately so Geoff had a flapjack which was in a plastic wrapper. It was slightly on the small side but nice enough.

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Orange & lemon cake

Again, my cake orange & lemon sponge was a bit of a measly slice. We both thought that it could have been perhaps a bit bigger. Not that I’m greedy, but compared to other tearooms and cafés, this was small. I cannot complain about the freshness nor the taste as both were good.

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The rear of the cafe and the tennis courts.

There are a number of café’s in the area, in fact one just around the corner which has been there for years overlooking the lake. The Tenth Hole is a bit further along with Southsea Beach Cafe and The Coffee Cup on the seafront itself. If you have a dog or love dogs then this is the place for you as they are allowed inside which is great especially in the winter months or on rainy days. If you don’t like dogs then this place is not for you at all.

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Illy coffee

Inside has plenty of tables and chairs, at the back is a kind of ‘snug’ with comfy settees and chairs. There are pictures on the wall and I was pleased to see a painting from one of my favourite painters, Sam Toft from Brighton.

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The staff very kindly raised some £300 by saving their tips for a couple of months which Canoe Lake Leisure Ltd., matched making it £600 for the paediatric unit at Queen Alexandra Hospital, more of which you can read about here.

Ambience 7
Quality 7
Service 7
Value 7
Return? Not for us I’m afraid but if you love dogs and don’t mind them inside the café then you will love this place.

Living life, loving cake

A x

 

1 Comment

  1. Anonymous says: Reply

    Love greens cafe, good food, pleasant staff, but unfortunately will not be back again or any other cafe on the seafront. I am a very bad asthmatic and allergic to dogs fur, so being near them gives me a bad asthma attack. What a pity there are no cafes dog free. A lot of people would like to eat a meal without dogs around. Thank you.

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