Tai Tip Mein 大碟麵 - London Elephant and Castle

As my phone was taken away from me last weekend (stolen I bet), most of the pictures on there were supposed to be for this blog. So unfortunately you're going to view a mini essay here instead. :(

Tai Tip Mein (大碟麵 daai dip min) has been around the Elephant and Castle area for many years. The very first branch was opened where the Strata Building is now and was called Tai Won Mein (大碗麵 daai wun min - "Big bowl of noodles"), and had then moved into Newington Butts where the restaurant currently is. Tai Tip Mein means "Big plate of noodles". It used to be a very popular venue for the locals, and I think it still is!! ^_^ It's cheap and the waiters / waitresses speak Cantonese, Mandarin and English. There is also another branch called by its old name Tai Won Mein in North Greenwich which a little pretty store methinks, and it almost looks like the original one. I think I went to the original place many years ago with my mum, and then started going there another few more times before it closed...

Took this when I was on the bus with my ancient Nokia phone
- Tai Tip Mein from the outside... a 3.2 MP camera is not bad!

My mum took me to this place two Friday evenings ago. It took me a little while to decide what to order because I haven't had their main menu for a while. In the end I ordered the Fried Noodles with King Prawns, and my mother ordered the Wanton Noodle Soup. This restaurant is quite unique compared to other noodle bars and restaurants, as you have to PAY first (you had to the same in the original restaurant). My mum and the waitress were gossiping, and the reason why you have to pay first is because there have been people who eat and then leave without paying. (If you are searching for a cashpoint: there are two at the entrance of Elephant and Castle Tube Station. There's a Santander (Abbey National) on the lower ground floor of Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre. One outside Tesco inside the shopping centre... And if I remember correctly there might be a bank on the first floor... Maybe...).

Took this on 28/06/2013 - Inside Tai Tip Mein

Unfortunately they don't do crispy noodles (which are obviously my favourite), and here's the only picture I have from that day... Just a screenshot from my Intagram which can view online...

Fried Noodles with King Prawns

My noodles were smothered with soy sauce. I don't seem to understand why people like to cover their food with soy sauce. It's too much for me , but I ate all of it. I was hungry, very hungry, and I didn't want to disappoint my mum who was paying!! Fortunately the king prawns compensated for the noodles. They were definitely fresh. I also had a piece of wanton from my mum's noodle soup, and it was very delicious. Very plain and not salty, and are also hand made in Tai Tip Mein. She added some chilli oil into hers to spice it up. There was a lot of wanton in it. It's a shame I have no picture of it...

So. A very short post. If I go there again I will add more pictures to this post!! Total cost came to about £12-£13 including drinks... (cheaper than aobaba!!) Oh yeah, I forgot to mention there's an all-you-can-eat buffet on the lower ground part. I think it's about £7.50 per person. Drinks cost extra of course... It's too bad I dislike buffets!!!

My geeky rating: 4/5

Good points:

- Very speedy service

- Noodle bar setting (so you might end up sharing a whole long table with someone)

- Wanton tasted good!

- Cheap place to eat Chinese food

Bad points:

- Too much soy sauce in my noodles

Address: 15 Elephant and Castle London SE1 6TE
Telephone: 020 7701 6788


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Update 04/07/2013

Here's a couple of noodle soups... Quite tasty, but looks like they use instant noodles, but not instant soup bases!

My delicious duck and bbq pork noodle soup ^_^

My mum had another Wanton Noodle Soup!

ALSO!! There's a change of ordering now... You have to go to the front to order and pay. It's like going to a fast food restaurant now!!

There's a sign at the front now that they've changed policy!