The Alentejo coast is defined by a high-quality culinary tradition built around fresh seafood, particularly fish and shellfish. It is within this setting that Temple Spicy was born, a small-scale production kitchen in Vila Nova de Milfontes, developed by Sokhony Hok and Pedro Lebre, which has just won a Bronze Medal in the Asian Style Chili Sauce category at the 2026 European Hot Sauce Awards (EHSA), Europe’s leading competition dedicated to hot sauces.
Temple Spicy works under the tagline "Sonhado no Cambodja, nascido no Alentejo", dreamed in Cambodia, born in Alentejo, it brings together flavours from Asia and Alentejo. Sokhony and Pedro met in Cambodia and built this project around their own love story, carefuly producing premium handcrafted sauces in small batches in Vila Nova de Milfontes. The flavour profile results from the fusion of Asian street food with traditional products from the Alentejo.
Nathan Austin on Temple Spicy:
"Asian Style Chili Sauce is a category most producers approach via soy, fish sauce or rice vinegar. Temple Spicy approached it via the Alentejo pantry, an extra virgin olive oil base on a street-food spice register, and a blind panel handed it Bronze in the category. That route into the category is the distinctive bit, not just the recipe." – Nathan Austin, Tasting Editor, Republic of Heat
Temple Spicy (Bronze, Asian Style Chili Sauce): extra virgin olive oil base, fresh chilli, garlic, a measured pinch of salt and sugar, finished with toasted sesame seeds. The maker frames it as a sauce inspired by Asian street food, carefully handcrafted in Vila Nova de Milfontes in small batches.
"We've put Vila Nova de Milfontes on the European chili map. A small scale production, our own recipes, going up against producers from across the continent and coming out with a Bronze in Asian Style. This result is extremlly important for us and will keep us motivated to produce more and better every day, with our mind focused on the premium quality of our products." – Sokhony Hok and Pedro Lebre, Temple Spicy
The European Hot Sauce Awards 2026 ran over 200 sauces from across the continent through blind tasting this year, scored on five criteria by a deliberately mixed panel of chefs, sommeliers, critics and chilli specialists. Asian Style Chili Sauce is one of the more cross-referential categories of the year, with producers building toward soy, sesame and fish-sauce traditions that travel a long way before they reach a European kitchen.
"A two-person kitchen on the Alentejo coast, Bronze in Asian Style across the continent. That's exactly the kind of result EHSA exists to surface." – Neil Numb, Founder, European Hot Sauce Awards
Temple Spicy is available through the maker at templespicy.com. Full EHSA 2026 results across all 16 categories: heatawards.eu/results/2026?utm_source=press_release&utm_medium=press&utm_campaign=ehsa2026&utm_content=temple-spicy.
The European Hot Sauce Awards 2026 are announced ahead of the Berlin Chili Fest, 29–31 May 2026. Republic of Heat's EHSA 2026 Top 3 winner box is live at republicofheat.com/de-en/discovery-set/euhsa_top3, with further EHSA selection boxes at republicofheat.com/de-en/hot-sauce-sets.
PRESS RESOURCES Press kit (photos, logos, AI lifestyle composites credited Republic of Heat / European Hot Sauce Awards 2026): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/14hIsbxEveEuy916LGzLCV_te-ZHiNSdF?usp=drive_link
ABOUT TEMPLE SPICY Temple Spicy is a craft hot sauce kitchen in Vila Nova de Milfontes, on the Alentejo coast of Portugal, run by Sokhony Hok and Pedro Lebre under the tagline "Sonhado no Cambodja, nascido no Alentejo" (dreamed in Cambodia, born in Alentejo). The kitchen produces premium handcrafted sauces in small batches, with Asian street food as the flavour reference and the Alentejo coast as the production base. templespicy.com.
ABOUT THE EUROPEAN HOT SAUCE AWARDS The European Hot Sauce Awards (EHSA) is the professional competition for commercially produced hot sauces in Europe, run annually since 2024 from heatawards.eu. EHSA was born out of the Berlin Chili Festival, which has run since 2019 and returns 29–31 May 2026, and became an independent competition in 2024. Over 200 sauces from producers across the continent were entered in 2026. Entries are judged blind across five criteria: aroma, heat profile, flavour, creativity and finish. The 2026 edition covers 16 categories, with Gold, Silver and Bronze medals awarded across multiple positions in each. Each category also names a Best in Category, the top Gold. EHSA is run independently of any single producer or retailer.
ABOUT REPUBLIC OF HEAT Republic of Heat is a European hot sauce subscription designed to show off the flavours coming out of Europe and help solve the distribution problem independent makers face. Founded June 2025 in Berlin by Nathan "Naga" Austin and Simon "Scoville" Gardner. The Discovery subscription delivers three handpicked craft sauces plus a spicy extra to subscribers across the EU each month. Press partner of the European Hot Sauce Awards 2026. republicofheat.com.
PRESS CONTACT Press: Republic of Heat, on behalf of European Hot Sauce Awards contact@republicofheat.com +49 176 41601284
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