Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
CHILI SAUCE BY ANY OTHER NAME
Judging by the phenomenal popularity of Sriracha Hot Chili sauce in the USA, you'd expect the eponymous
town to be a veritable sauce temple. But no one in the town of Si Racha seems to know much about the sauce,
much less that US haute cuisine chefs are using it on everything from cocktails to marinades and that food
magazines are profiling it alongside truffle oil as a must-have condiment. Curiously, the culinary world also mis-
pronounces the name of the sauce: Sriracha, an alternative spelling of 'Si Racha', is pronounced 'see-rach-ah'
not 'sir-rach-ah'.
There's a good explanation for all this: the stuff sold in the US was actually invented on home soil. A Viet-
namese immigrant living in a Los Angeles suburb concocted a chilli sauce to accompany noodles based on his
memory of Vietnamese hot sauces. His first batches were sold out of his car but eventually his business grew in-
to the Huy Fong Foods company.
Today, the company's distinctive rooster logo bottles are distributed in the US and Australia, but not in any
Asian countries, according to a company spokesperson. But every now and then you might spot it at a Thai
noodle shop. How this US-born, Thai-named, Vietnamese-inspired sauce got here, Huy Fong Foods does not
know.
But that doesn't mean Thailand doesn't have its own version of a vinegar-based chilli sauce
(nám prík sĕe
rah·chah)
. In fact, many believe that the condiment must have originated in Si Racha and then migrated across
Asia while undergoing various permutations. In Thailand, Si Racha-style sauces, including such popular brands
as Golden Mountain or Sriraja Panich, are used with
kài jee·o
(omelette) and
hŏy tôrt
(fried mussel omelette)
and tend to be sweeter and of a thinner consistency than the rooster brand.
Information
Krung Thai Bank
(cnr Th Surasak 1 & Th Jermjompol)
Has an ATM and exchange facilities.
Post Office
(Th Jermjompol)
A few blocks north of the Krung Thai Bank.
0 3832 4111; Soi 8, Th Jermjompol)
Regarded as Si Racha's best.
Samitivet Sriracha Hospital
(
Getting There & Around
Si Racha doesn't have a consolidated bus station but all buses stop on Th Sukhumvit
(Hwy 3) by Robinson Department Store, or the nearby IT Mall (Tuk Com).
Buses heading north to Bangkok's bus terminals (88B to 97B, two hours) pass by
every 30 minutes or so until late. There are also seven buses daily to Suvarnabhumi Inter-
national Airport (200B, two hours) from an office beside the IT Mall.
Minivans stop in front of Robinson's and have frequent services to Bangkok's various
bus stations (100B to 120B, two hours) and Victory Monument (100B, two hours). They
head south to Pattaya (40B, 45 minutes) often, too.
White
sŏrng·tăa·ou
(passenger pick-up trucks) leave from near Si Racha's clock tower
to Pattaya's Naklua market (25B, 45 minutes).
