Londoners Are Keeping It Cool With Wine Bars That Double Up as Ice Cream Parlors — And These 5 Pass the Design Test, too.

Something I love about London is that more restaurants and bars are opening every week. Meet Lai Rai, the new "fuss-free", instantly iconic Vietnamese destined to shake things up in buzzy Peckham, South East. Launched last month by a group of young creatives active across the culinary and design scenes, the concept draws on the childhood memories of co-founders Blair Nguyen and Ivy Vo, also involved in the Y2K-style South Asian snack renaissance platformed by their whimsical food collective, 𝒱ℐ𝒩𝒜𝒳𝒪𝒜, to infuse a fresh, experimental Vietnamese fare into the British capital.

A café in the AM, serving freshly baked, crispy bánh mi, along with coffee and tea, the recent Rye Lane addition transforms into an atmospheric bar and eatery come the evening, with finger-licking-good bites, heartwarming broths, and a globe-trotting wine list. Part of the family-run Bánh Bánh group, Lai Rai is the brainchild of spatial design studio house of baby, whose playfully nostalgic vision can be felt throughout its retro-futuristic interiors. Against a cocooning palette of buttery walls and tiles, the space's electric red and chrome accents feel almost disorienting, as if inviting diners to indulge in a dimension of its own. Part French bistro, part Space Age-core, looks aside, Lai Rai is, first and foremost, a dynamic Vietnamese canteen for people to meet, share stories, and drinks.

Ice cream comes in timeless silver cups and truly surprising, seasonal flavors: think fish sauce caramel, Laughing Cow cheese & sweetcorn, and cucumber & calamansi, all freshly churned by New Cross Gate-based Clingy Wrap.

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