The best restaurants in Peckham.

There’s no shortage of top-tier Vietnamese restaurants in south-east London, but how many can claim to be new wave? Lai Rai certainly can – the latest to open on Peckham’s Rye Lane, serving Vietnamese flavours with a modern edge in what might be one of the best-looking retro dining rooms south of the river. It’s Vietnamese bar-snack culture done deliciously: prawn lollies with fish sauce satay, five-spice beef shin croquettes and Laughing Cow ice cream laced with fish sauce. There’s no pho here – traditionalists, look away – but the spices have migrated to the cocktail list instead – The Pho Please is whiskey, pho-infused rice wine and house-made syrup. Swing by in the AM for a Vietnamese condensed milk coffee and bánh mi and your day is off to a fine start. 

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