Tai Tip Mein

Henry P.

11 June 2026

We had a one day stopover back in London after our Eurotrip before we were on our way back home. We had just got off the Eurostar from Paris and we were hangry craving some comfort food! So, our friend suggested this place because it was quick, cheap, good for its price. When passing by this place from the outside, it does not look like somewhere I would like to check out. But after trying it out, I definitely would come back often if I lived in the area.

I ordered the shrimp fried rice and a freshly squeezed orange juice. The orange juice caught me by surprise. Freshly squeezed orange juice at a hole-in-the-wall Chinese food place?? Unheard of to me! But it was absolutely delicious and great for the price! Fresh orange juice is nothing like the bottled ones (Tropicana, Simply Orange, etc). The fried rice was very reminiscent of Chinese fast food quality. Plenty of "wok-hei" (the special wok taste from the high heat cooking).

Solomon J.

7 June 2026

Where should I start. This place is autrocious. Cheap, stingy, and disgusting. Barely any food selection and everything was disgusting. I paid 10 pounds for horrible food. Do yourself a favor and don't eat there! Someone shut this place down!

Melly M.

2 June 2026

I've lived in London for 5 years and every time my bus or cab has passed Elephant and Castle, I've wondered what goes on behind the doors of Tai Tip Mein. After all, Elephant is a weird place full of weird people, so surely Tai Tip Mein is a bit weird too. Right? Right!

Funnily enough, my friend and I had been drinking champagne in Boro Bistro and couldn't decide where to eat. We knew we wanted Chinese and laughed about going to TTM. However, the laughs because earnest and we headed off. On route, the conversation went down the "Maybe we should go to Nandos" route but by this point, I was too intrigued to finally see the inside of that strange little shack under the shopping precinct.

This was a Thursday evening around 9pm. As we approached the entrance, we suddenly wondered - what even is this place? Restaurant? Buffet? We had no idea. Entering the main part, the hosts looked surprised to see us and gestured for us to sit anywhere. The seating is canteen style - like at Wagamama's, for example. However, the place was dead. A couple of diners only and one or two stopping off for takeout.

We were brought over a menu and it was absolutely huge. The selection of food is expansive to say the least and I felt a little overwhelmed at this point. We decided on spring rolls, crackers, prawn toasts and two mains of garlic and prawn fried rice and chicken satay with rice to share. We also had a couple of beers each.O

When the waitress came over to take our order, she apologetically asked us to pay up front. Reading between the lines, I'm assuming this place may have had a bit of a dine-and-dash rep back in the day. We were happy to pay up front and the bill came to around £15 each, which wasn't much for the amount we had ordered.

At this point, I needed a wee. I asked where the toilets were and was directed downstairs. They also gave me a key with an A5 laminated key ring attached. It seemed rather odd, not least when I found the toilets which were totally normal and totally unlocked.

Shortly after I got back, the food arrived. Or should I say the feast. The portion size here is huge. Three sides and two mains would easily feed a group of four. Me and my friend are bottomless pits but despite our best efforts, we came nowhere close to finishing everything. This made me even more impressed about the price. We had robbed Tai Tip Mein of their food and then left most of it.

Even though the place looks a little ramshackle and is super cheap, the food was actually very tasty. I'd had a pretty shocking Chinese meal the week before which was half the portion size and twice as expensive so left raving about my experience here.

Low budget, quick service, huge portions, good food, a side order of weirdness. You'd have to have a stick up your ass to not like the Tai Tip Mein.

Dee D.

17 May 2026

This is a family-owned establishment right in front of Elephant and Castle shopping centre. It housed in basically an ugly bright blue box on the sidewalk, but it's surprisingly spacious on the inside.

I've been living in this area for half a year and finally got around to trying this place. Some days, you're just craving greasy, Westernized Chinese food, and this is the local greasy spoon Chinese takeaway. The service here is cafeteria-style: You walk in and place your order at the counter, then you grab a seat and they bring your food out to you.

I ordered a stir fry seafood noodle dish, but as soon as it arrived and I looked around to see what my fellow diners were having, I immediately regretted not getting a soup dish instead. The squid was wayyy overcooked to the consistency of an eraser, but the shrimp was actually okay. It came with three big prawns right on top of the noodles, which is more than some upscale places will give you, especially for £6.50.

The portions are MASSIVE. I finished about half of my noodles before giving up and just picking through it for the meat. Although I suspect that if I'd eaten any more, I'd start feeling heart palpitations..

Elephant and Castle is kind of a food desert at the moment. There aren't any authentic Chinese restaurants in the area, because there isn't much of a market for finer dining, at least not until the Heygate property is rebuilt and gentrification starts happening. I'm giving this place 3 starts because the food is reasonable given the price and quantity, and I've gotta admit, I'll be sad when this place is inevitably shut down in a few years due to roundabout reconstruction or rising rents.

Esther L.

15 May 2026

Worst chinese food ever. DO NOT and i repeat, DO NOT get their vermicelli soup. Disgusting

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Henry P.

Solomon J.

Melly M.

Dee D.

Esther L.

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