Lai Rai

Great cocktails, nice food and ambience but just 2 stars from me! We had a reservation for 18.15. Once we had finished the food, we were offered dessert and coffee. Before the dessert was served on the table… they brought us the bill saying that we have to leave as we were there for 1h and 10’!!! Basically , the kicked us out!!! I checked the website and the reservation confirmation email and they do not mention anything about the time you reserve the table for!!!! Clearly, if there is such policy , it should be mentioned somewhere!!!! In addition, if they felt we had to leave… they should not have offer desert or coffee… did they expect me to pay additional 20£ to have it as take away?!?! Unacceptable treating customers these way!!!

We had a very enjoyable dinner at Lai Rai a few days ago. The standout dishes were the roasted red kuri squash, mussels in the coconut and lemongrass broth, and the rice paper salad.

I think the food was fairly inventive. The prawn lollies were a little gummy the sauces underneath were very good . The papaya salad was nice enough but maybe not as good as some more simple Thai ones I've had. The chicken was definitely the highlight. The vegetable dish was also pretty decent. I think using old banh mi to have to dip only really works with one or two of the saucier dishes. Perhaps the mussels? The rice cake/slabs were pretty hefty. Main issue was that the food came out in quite a staccato manner so we couldn't always enjoy things together. I think having some dipping sauces as well as plain rice and plain banh mi options would be good (maybe the fresh bread is only for lunch service though?) Vibes are pretty cool, hawker-market type crockery and cutlery. Anyway, definitely great potential. Love to see it

Very pleasant experience, with a lot of potential. The staff were incredibly friendly, the atmosphere was lovely. The food in general was good, but there are a few areas of improvement. Some dishes felt like they were missing something. A few dishes were on the dry side (likely intended to be served with saucier dishes) but because the plates were brought out when they were ready, there was long gaps between them, meaning they couldn’t be enjoyed together. With a little more attention to timing, this could be a fantastic spot.

I came here having made a reservation beforehand. Nice environment and food, but when our dessert and coffee arrived, we were told that we needed to vacate the table in 10 minutes. We had not been told this at the time of reservation or when we arrived at the restaurant or when we ordered dessert and coffee. 10 minutes is not enough time to enjoy dessert and a coffee, plus the coffee was not the one I had ordered. This left a sour aftertaste to an otherwise enjoyable meal.

We came for dinner and enjoyed the bold yet fresh flavours. Between the two of us, we shared the chao com (prawn lollies which were delicious), bahn da quet la vong (tofu whip which was nice but not a must order), banh trang tron (rice paper salad with beef jerky, quail eggs and green mango which had interesting texture but over good flavour profile), bo tai chanh (beef tartare which was one of the favourites and full of flavour), the ga gion cao nguyen (crispy chicken leg with a lovely fresh herb sauce) and the vem cot dua (mussels in a very delicious creamy coconut broth with lemongrass and mint). For dessert, we shared the soy sauce ice cream but it wasn't to my taste. The service overall was attentive and friendly.

Commendable and super rare to find a Vietnamese restaurant outside of Vietnam without Pho on the menu. This restaurant really delivered. For foreigners, Pho is synonymous with Vietnamese food but this restaurant invites you to a much broader range of the Vietnamese cuisine. 100% worth it. Restaurant offers small sharing plates with a steeper price than other Vietnamese restaurants but it’s unique and worth a try. For 2 people, we had 4 small plates and 2 sides (both carbs) and we were full. Staff was friendly. Place is tiny and maybe sits 16 people all together. You’ll need to book before.

Great new Vietnamese diner-style spot with a cool, unique menu! The vegan food was all excellent and the Papaya Jellyfish Salad and Coconut Mussels were a standout