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Chef's
Spicy Dip Sparks Terror Raid
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A pot of
burning chillies sparked fears of a chemical attack on a busy
shopping street, recently.
Police closed
off three roads and evacuated homes in central London as a cloud of
noxious smoke filled the air. But the source turned out to be some
fiery food left cooking on a restaurant stove.
Firefighters
wearing protective breathing apparatus were called to D'Arblay
Street, Soho as members of the public were shepherded away. The
specialist crews then broke down the door of the Thai Cottage
restaurant. They emerged around 7pm with a 9lb pot of chillies.
Staff at the
restaurant said they were surprised by the reaction of the emergency
services. Chef Chalemchai Tangjariyapoon told The Times: "I was
making a spicy dip with extra-hot chillies that are deliberately burnt.
"To us it
smells like burnt chilli and it is slightly unusual. I can understand
why people who weren't Thai would not know what it was. But it
doesn't smell like chemicals. I'm a bit confused."
He was
preparing Nam Prik Pao, a red-hot Thai dip served with prawn
crackers, the paper said. The dip is prepared with garlic, shrimp
paste, dried shrimp and vegetable oil. A Scotland Yard spokesman
said: "The street was closed off for three hours while we were
trying to discover the source of the odour."
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