Cafe TPT in Chinatown will serve its final meals on 27 October

Cafe TPT, a Chinatown fixture at 21 Wardour Street in Soho, is shutting permanently on 27 October. It has been trading on the street for nearly 20 years.

No explanation has been offered for the decision. In a farewell post on Instagram, the team called serving diners “an absolute privilege”. It added that many of the people who came through the door had become “more than just customers”.

The post thanked regulars for bringing their stories and celebrations to the café over the years. According to the team, the cooking was only one part of what the place meant. The friendships and familiar faces at its tables counted for just as much.

What Cafe TPT served

The café built its name on Cantonese café dishes and Chinese street food. Roast duck was one of the best known plates. Diners also returned for pork chop rice baked in the oven, a curry made with beef flank and Malaysian cooking such as curry laksa.

The kitchen went further afield as well. Some dishes took their lead from Sichuan, and British-Chinese staples like sweet and sour chicken were on the menu too. That spread mirrored the mix of food traditions that has long brought people to Chinatown for a cheap meal or a late supper.

Customers pay tribute

Messages from customers appeared online soon after the news was posted. One diner said losing the café was “truly a massive loss to the London dining scene”.

A former student wrote that the restaurant had looked after them on many occasions during their studies. It was where they went when they missed home, they said, and they would miss it.

Signing off, the team thanked diners for staying loyal. It said the connections made at Cafe TPT, and the memories that came with them, would stay part of its story.