Sisters Cafe, Southsea, Portsmouth

sisters
Cosy interior

Sisters Cafe, Southsea’s latest opening, is situated on Marmion Road where Churchill’s and Grace & Ivy used to be. Sisters is run by – you guessed it! – two sisters Sarah and Abby, who previously served food from their street food van on Southsea Common. Sisters Cafe is a day time thing offering decent-sized portions for breakfast, brunch and lunch. Think loaded fries, doorstep sandwiches, cocktails and Sunday roasts. Take a sneak peek at their menus here.

sisters cafe
The crew

We were invited to the launch night of Sisters Cafe last week and were treated to a glass of bubbles on arrival which was a nice touch. The interior of the place is smart and very cosy. There’s space for around nine tables with the mirrors along the main wall making the place look much larger. Top scores for ambience.

sisters cafe
Music from Jake Bezzina. Photo credit: Southsea Snapper

We ordered some drinks, Estrella beer on tap for the men and a “medium” glass of wine for mum which was much bigger than a medium. Woohoo! It was the night before my marathon so I was on the tap water but I did have a sip of Mum’s wine. I’m extremely fussy with white wine but I found this one very easy to drink. As we settled in, we were treated to music by local artist Jake Bezzina from Blackfoot Circle who also returned after we had finished our food.

beef brisket
Beef brisket sandwich

We were served a selection of dishes from the menu which we all shared. Joining us ladies were our better halves, which worked well as the men shared the meat dishes and mum and I shared the veggie plates. First up was the beef brisket, onion and grilled cheese sandwich with dipping gravy. The men said this was their favourite dish. The meat was extremely tender and the bread very fresh – it was huge! I’m glad we were all sharing! Then came the veggie chilli, guacamole and salsa loaded fries. As you probably know by now, Mum is vegan, so I let her have most of these as there wasn’t anything else served that she could have (there is a vegan mushroom burger on the main menu though).

sisters fries
Veggie chilli loaded fries

The grilled halloumi, roasted red peppers, rocket and balsamic glaze sandwich was nice with that incredibly fresh bread. It reminded me of my childhood when tiger/hedgehog bread first became a thing – I would cut off thick slices and layer with butter as a treat. The buffalo loaded fries were again, an incredibly generous portion. They were covered in buffalo chicken, pickled red cabbage slaw and garlicky ranch dressing.

halloumi sandwich
Halloumi sandwich

Sadly, we didn’t get to try any desserts but the menu does include three flavours of ice cream sundae for those with a sweet tooth like us. We hear there will be a selection of cakes each day too, which we look forward to trying on our return.

loaded fries
Buffalo loaded fries

Throughout the night Sarah came over to check we were ok while Abby worked her magic in the kitchen. We were all extremely impressed with the friendly attentiveness of Sarah and her co-worker – good service matters so much. Unfortunately, after their first day of trade, Sisters had to temporarily close their doors due to the national lockdown. I feel so bad for these ladies! They are still open for takeaways so do pop down to taste what they have to offer. The need to support local businesses is more important than ever. We’d like to wish Sarah and Abby the very best of luck with their new venture and a big thank you for letting us be part of your launch night.

Living life, loving family-run cafes,

H x

 

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