At first glance, this little café and food store feels like a children’s day care centre. Everything is just a little smaller than usual. There are little tables with red chairs, a wee cupboard full of wooden toys, a pastel mobile and baby blue walls. Second hand bibs and bobs are hidden in nooks and crannies. It is all a bit understated and intriguing.

And then the penny drops. There are warm smells of baking. Apples, rhubarb, cloves and sugar. The side wall is lined with Pippa’s homemade sauces, chutneys, nectars, and bespoke teas. There is a counter teaming with hot-out-of-the-oven pear and gingerbread cake, spiced chocolate cake, date, fig and hazlenut tart and ready-to-go meals. Pippa herself greets you from the kitchen. Dressed in her apron, her head of woolly curls are tamed by a floral bandana.

Pippa has struck upon something. The philosophy behind the food store, as a little sign on each table tells, is a dedication to creating house made produce from the highest quality seasonal produce, many sourced locally. Pippa uses free range organic eggs, fair-trade organic coffee, organic sourdough bread, organic milk, butter, yoghurt, cheese, soy milk, flour, sugar, juice and selected vegetables.

But the real point of difference lies in Pippa’s talent from starting from scratch. She makes her own yoghurt, cheeses, speciality breads, almond milk, jams, preserves, chutney and syrups.

Rooted in deep indecision I ordered both the organically Aussie grown coffee and the house blend chai with soy. Both exceeded taste bud expectations.

I followed with a freshly baked banana, cranberry and almond muffin served with organic butter. The butter was good enough to simply eat straight off the plate. The muffin was the best I have ever tasted. No joke. Together, they were heavenly.

Notably, there is a distinct and refreshing absence of egg-based dishes on the blackboard menu. Instead, you are tempted by choc cherry bread served with plum jam and yoghurt. Or a house made cereal of rice flakes, sour cherries, almonds and pepitas served with either apple juice or fresh homemade almond milk.

The piece de resistance is Pippa’s crumbles. The sweet crumble contains bubbling rhubarb and almond. The savoury crumble however took me on a flight of fancy with its basil, tomato, zucchini, cheese and a drizzle of sour cream.

Pippa’s is just more than just homely cooking at its best. It has an honest, healthy, wholesome sensibility. To that end, we hope Pippa will cook forever.