Teo Della Torre
Peckham's perma-packed main drag currently offers everything from indulgent Malaysian cookery (Janda Diner), to rooftop picantes (Forza Wine), one of the cheapest pints of non-'Spoons Guinness in London (Nag's Head), and impeccable Nigerian barbecue (Suuyar).
The exact point where Saigon canteen culture meets the contents of Charli xcx's Dropbox
Follow the smoke drifting across the road from Suyaar and you'll find the latest addition to SE15's substantial food trail, Lai Rai. A new-school Vietnamese with an adamantly 'no pho' menu, Lai Rai has local roots (it's run by the same family as nearby Bánh Bánh) but is a snackier, share-ier proposition than its big bowl-proffering sibling.
Lai Rai's discreet shopfront is immediately rendered indiscreet thanks to a red-and-white striped awning nabbed from a passing funfair. Inside, Lai Rai continues with its endearing brand of intensity. Lit by red neon and with a clinical stainless steel counter, the rest of the small space is a jumble of high and low tables (there's also an airier, less full-on upstairs level); suggesting the exact point where Saigon canteen culture meets the contents of Charli xcx's Dropbox.
We match the chaotic energy and start with a mango-muddled picante complete with strands of potent red chilli, and so begins a fast and furious assault of flavour. A bowl of slow-braised pork belly pieces, sweet and sticky nugs of crispy, crunchy, and fatty flesh, could be kids' cinema sweets, were they not pig. Lighter, but by no means less addictive, is the papaya jellyfish salad with pellets of juicy pineapple and smooshed tomatoes, all slugged together with peanuts, a windowbox of fresh Vietnamese herbs and yet more chillis. It glows the colour of a particularly lovely sunset and toiters adeptly across the tightrope of sweet/savoury.
Another hefty 'small plate' is piled with fleshy beef tartare, cut with lumps of cucumber and simply begging to be scooped up with shiso leaves. On top are crushed crackers and another brace of peanuts, making this textural symphony perhaps more meat salad than pure tartare, but we're not complaining.
Big plates aren't much different in size from their forebears, though crispy chicken leg, fried twice for extra crunch, is a beast of a thing, bobbing about on green herb dressing. We like it, but we like the mussels in coconut and lemongrass broth more, and are smug to have ordered the bahn mi (basically bits of baguette) instead of a side of rice, and set about soaking bread in the fragrant liquid until it almost disintegrates.
Pudding is more simple, with fish sauce and vanilla caramel icecream a pescetarian take on salted caramel, and kumquat cucumber sorbet more like a frozen mint mojito than anything of its advertised ingredients.
While Peckham might already have a million places to eat, Lai Rai has immediately marked itself out as one to visit very, very soon.
The vibe A sweetly chaotic little spot for Peckham's fashion crowd.
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