"Candles are cute and everything but there’s something sexy about a neon light casting a mischievous and, whisper it, slightly illicit red glow. Lai Rai, a modern Vietnamese spot in Peckham, starts to hum as soon as darkness falls. Chuggable gái nhảy rum cocktails flow and, come 9pm, dates lean in over beer and prawn lollipops. The jerky and rice paper salad is electric. And the beef with an unearthly barbecue sauce is unlike anything we’ve eaten before." - jake missing, rianne shlebak, sinead cranna, heidi lauth beasley