The Best Restaurants In London

A beautifully decked-out box of a diner on Rye Lane – a cinematic mess of retina-burning strip lighting, sunny yellow walls and steel countertops – LaiRai hawks exemplary modern Vietnamese plates with a bit of quirky verve. By which we mean, things like a zingy jellyfish and papaya salad, haché-style pucks of beef in a heady coffee-BBQ sauce, chewy shards of lemongrass-heavy jerky, and vanilla ice cream with fish sauce and caramel. House wines from Top Cuvée and some thoughtful non-alc options (a hibiscus basil cold brew, for instance) complete the picture.