Tai Tip Mein

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

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.

I’ve never eaten downstairs in the buffet. My wonton noodle soup wasn’t great, the wontons were okay but overcooked and the noodles were like instant ones and had been boiled for so long they were mushy and falling apart. The soup was passable and the chili sauce on the table was quite nice. Others dishes were fried noodles which looked pretty bland and greasy, but very big! The roast pork noodle soup actually looked pretty good… Aside from those horrible overcooked noodles! It’s cheap and it won’t kill you, but I probably wouldn’t go back.

Tai Tip Mein literally means «Big Plate Noodle» in Chinese, and that is exactly what it is. Portions are massive for a very very low price, but food is extremely greasy and kind of bland. Although they have a big menu everything kind of blend in and taste the same. I do come here but only when I’m very desperate. I usually leave feeling guilty that I have fed myself such bad food.

Ok so Elephant & Castle is not on most people’s port of call but if you happen to be in the area and want a quick bite to eat they this place is really cheap and not too bad.
I would not recommend the the buffet downstairs but the restaurant upstairs is ok, you can get a plate of food for about £4, you have to pay when you order.

The Tai Tip Mein is a super cheap noodle place and buffet really close to Elephant & Castle tube /​train station. It looks pretty horrid and cheap from the outside and the food kind of reflects that.
There’s a really cool Chinese buffet up in Camden and it’s a million times better — a good example of a buffet not having to be cheap and nasty like this one. The food was a bit oily and not really fresh, I didn’t enjoy the noodles or the buffet at all.
If you are really starving, just avoid this place, it’s not the greatest, even though it’s pretty cheap.