It’s coming from the teams behind Bánh Bánh and food and music project Vinaxoa
Lai Rai (meaning ‘little by little’) is bringing the Vietnamese culture of bia hơi – meeting for snacks and cold beers – to Rye Lane this summer, with a menu of banh mi and Vietnamese coffee by day and Vietnamese dishes and drinks by night. Blair Nguyen, co-founder of Vinaxoa (a collective that combines food and raving), has designed the menu, taking inspo from her upbringing in Saigon, dessert runs with her dad and snacks she’d eat after school and after nights out.
At the two-floor, retro canteen-inspired space, you can expect dishes like:
- Viet five-spice beef jerky
- fried prawn and young green rice on sugarcane stalks with peanut and nước chấm satay sauce
- papaya jellyfish salad with pineapple, charred tomatoes, herbs and peanuts
- fermented tofu dip with turmeric oil and sesame crackers
- grilled betel leaf beef with coffee barbecue jus
- twice-cooked crispy chicken with fresh herb sauce
- mung bean coconut sticky rice
- Running Chic – a baguette stuffed with caramel shredded chicken, crispy onions, chicken pâté, house carrot pickle, cucumber, spring onion and rau ram
- Ryelane Delight – a baguette with vegan cold-cuts, sautéed mushroom, whipped tofu pâté and miso kho quẹt
For the desserts, Lai Rai will be inviting friends in to do some sweet collab dishes, beginning with SE London ice cream maker Clingy Wrap, who’s doing flavours like Laughing Cow cheese, sweetcorn, fish sauce & caramel, and cucumber, calamansi & mint sorbet.
Cocktail fans won’t want to miss the Pho Please (made with whiskey, pho-infused rice wine and syrup) or the Ca Phe Martini (a boozy take on Vietnamese coffee), with Saigon Special beers and Top Cuvée wines completing the drinks list.
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Put the kettle on!
Key Information
Opening date | June 2025
Address | 181 Rye Lane, Peckham SE15 4TP
For more information | lairai.london