Located on Rye Lane, Lai Rai has been inspired by the Vietnamese bia hoi culture of meeting friends for snacks and cold beer and will serve a menu that will shine a light on familiar Vietnamese flavours but with an ‘experimental, youthful twist’.
The restaurant will serve bánh mi and Vietnamese coffee by day and innovative Vietnamese dishes and drinks in the evening with the menu devised by Blair Nguyen, co-founder of south east London project Vinaxoa, a collective known for its food pop-ups at parties and clubs, combining rave culture with food.
Drawing on nostalgic recipes from Nguyen’s upbringing in Saigon, dishes will be playful takes on her weekend dessert runs with her dad, satisfying after-school snacks, and 4am after-party refuels.
Dishes will include snacks of lemongrass and lime roasted peanuts; and Vietnamese five-spice beef jerky, both designed to be enjoyed with an ice cold Saigon beer, as well as fried prawn and young green rice on sugarcane stalks with peanut and nước chấm satay sauce; a papaya jellyfish salad with pineapple, charred tomatoes, Vietnamese herbs and peanuts; and a creamy fermented tofu dip with turmeric oil, dill, spring onions and pine nuts, served with sesame crackers.
Larger dishes will include the likes of grilled betel leaf beef, a nod to Vietnam’s street-side barbecue culture, served with a house-made coffee barbecue jus, and twice-cooked crispy chicken with a fresh herb sauce. Rice comes in the form of fragrant mung bean coconut sticky rice, steamed and deep-fried.
The dessert menu will be taken on by a number of rotating friends and peers of Lai Rai, with an ever-changing offering of sweet collaborations. First up is Clingy Wrap, the south east London ice cream-maker creating flavours such as Laughing Cow cheese with sweetcorn, fish sauce and caramel, and a cucumber, calamansi and mint sorbet.
The cocktail list meanwhile will include Pho Please, a mix of whiskey, pho-infused rice wine and house-made syrup; and the Ca Phe Martini, a boozy take on Vietnamese coffee. There will also be a selection of wines supplied by Top Cuvée.
Lighter options will be available at lunch, including sweet Vietnamese coffees and bánh mi, with options such as the Running Chic, a baguette of caramel shredded chicken and crispy onions with chicken pâté, house carrot pickle, cucumber, spring onion and rau ram; and the Ryelane Delight, made with vegan cold-cuts and sautéed mushroom layered with whipped tofu pâté and an umami miso kho quẹt.
Lai Rai’s interior will pay homage to retro Vietnamese canteens and will feature motifs drawn from the utilitarian cafés across Vietnam using a buttery colour palette with shiny textures. Set across two floors, the upstairs dining room will have large communal tables lit by a recessed halo light overhead for bigger groups.
The Bánh Bánh family of restaurants was founded by Kevin Nguyen alongside his four siblings. Their first Vietnamese restaurant opened in Peckham in 2016 following two years as a pop-up at Rye Wax. The group also operates sites in Brixton and on Fleet Street.