A Thai restaurant's spicy chilli sauce sparked fears of a chemical attack and led police to evacuate a busy London street.

Police closed off three roads and evacuated homes as a mysterious cloud of acrid smoke hovered over Soho for three hours.

As the ambulance service sent in its Hazardous Area Response Team Unit, firefighters wearing specialist breathing apparatus entered the deserted streets to seek out the source.

They broke down the door of the Thai Cottage restaurant - to emerge later carrying a huge cooking pot containing about 9lb of smouldering dried chillies.

Chef Chalemchai Tangjariyapoon said: "I was making a spicy dip with extra-hot chillies that are deliberately burnt.

He was preparing Nam Prik Pao, a red-hot Thai dip served with prawn crackers.
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That's so stupid, you've got to laugh.

Aw man... what a waste of a good batch of hot sauce...

If the smell was that powerfull i wonder what it would feel like on your toung? Poor chef, i hope he wasn,t to freaked out or insulted when the haz. mat. team busted the door down and carried his special hot sauce away!

OMG!!!

This sauce must of put wasabi to shame. It's a shame it was wasted.

Holy heck... and I think ordinary pepper is TOO spicey!!

I wonder if they were playing "The Red Hot Chilli Peppers" in the restaurant at the time

(how to delete this post?)

Actually, most Thai cuisines are very nice. They are not really that hot and spicy....

at least till the third mouthfull. Then all hell breaks loose!!

You guys dont understand the complex methods of terrorism..

Some blow up your home..

Some take hostages..

Some will give you some "real-a-spicy-meatball" to lure you into a false sense of security so you will help them topple a democratic goverment...

Aw man, that sounded tasty...

I just have a mental picture of them all in the special gear carrying out a pot of chili peppers...

OMG! Nuclear chili sauce.

Wow...powerful chillis.