How it all began

“All the toppings?” became a regular refrain in our takeaway Red Panda shops. Generally, the answer was “Yes” and sometimes customers add “and extra crispy chilli please”. 

Sprinkling chilli oil, or as we like to call it, chilli crisp, onto a dressed salad, even coleslaw, in addition to the rice and proteins was a unique concept in Dorset in 2017 when the first Red Panda shop opened. Until today, this remains a key component in enhancing the flavour profile of our meal offerings. The reason for the success though was two-fold – the texture of our crispy chilli and the fact that it was mild yet full of flavour.

Chilli sauces and their constituent chilli peppers have traditionally been hinged on bravado, with people giving names to the hottest pepper varieties and comparing their Scoville values. A low-heat chilli, however, didn’t really exist and the inclusivity it granted to people who didn’t like spice was widely appreciated. Throw in the additional width of its flavour profile and there was little push-back to this as a condiment you could literally 'put on anything'. By using multiple chilli varieties, each with varying spice levels and flavours, we created something that brought both a mildly warming spice plus new flavours.

The crisp or crunch was another eye-opener for our customers. Up until that point, many chillis were found either as water-based sauces or more of a paste. Rooted in the original Mexican Tabasco, later surpassed by Thai Sriracha, the water-based chilli sauces were very hot and carried little other flavour and no texture. The Cantonese chilli dipping sauces were cooked down mixes of chilli, black bean and other ingredients cooked until soft and paste like, presented in oil. Red Panda’s Chilli Crisp was something entirely different, with crispness coming from the dried chilli (through not over-cooking), fried alliums and the fermented black beans. All came with textures that created a multi-faceted, delicious when drizzled on food.

Our original remains true to its roots. In both our takeaways and our sauces, we have refused to compromise on taste and prefer to be open with our customers on pricing. We still use the same recipe and ingredients, although to meet those with differing preferences we now have a Spicy Chilli Crisp and an even crunchier Nuts & Seeds Chilli Crisp.