Lai Rai
Wine bar · Chinatown ·
Inventive Vietnamese snacks, natural wine, and creative ice creams
Inventive Vietnamese snacks, natural wine, and creative ice creams
"At this Vietnamese natural wine bar in Chinatown you can indulge in house-made, rotating ice cream flavors with a little buzz—expect unusual scoops like Lá Chuối (banana leaf), the floral Hoa Cúc (chrysanthemum), and Phô Mai (a creamy cheese inspired by Laughing Cow)—and you can even nerd out pairing them with rice wines or contrast them against things like fish sauce caramel ice cream." - Charlie Hobbs
"At this Lower East Side wine bar, you’ll find creamy avocado and Vietnamese coffee ice creams, as well as the most refreshing seasonal fruit flavors. Their light green ambarella sorbet is lovely: like a perfume sample that has you repeatedly sniffing your wrist, it unfurls more citrusy and grassy notes with each spoon. The calamansi sorbet is also great, almost bitter with rind, and you’ll want to try the toasty banana leaf ice cream too. Get in touch with them on Instagram to order by the pint." - bryan kim, willa moore, sonal shah, molly fitzpatrick, kenny yang
"I noticed that at Lai Rai in New York diners pair creamy scoops—examples include avocado or toasty banana leaf—with the bar's mostly French and Italian natural wine list, following the wine-bar-plus-ice-cream model." - ByKate Kassin
"On the Lower East Side, the spotlights the work of a Vietnamese rice wine maker, bringing a less-common category of regional spirits to its program." - Bettina Makalintal
"Lai Rai is putting a Vietnamese spin on the micro trend of wine-and-ice cream bars. The flavors are constantly rotating but, on a recent visit, they included flavors like banana leaf, fish sauce caramel, and avocado. The wine list is diverse, with bottles produced everywhere from Italy to Spain to Virginia."