We’ve all been there: for reasons known only to ourselves, but probably to impress our mates, we’ve ordered a meal with not one, not two, but three chilli symbols next to it.
It’ll be fine, we tell ourselves – how bad can it be?
You may put on a brave face as you choke it down, but the increasingly scarlet complexion and beads of sweat on your forehead have given the game away: you should have ordered the lemon and herb.
For a Californian doctor, this classic experience has allegedly left her with permanent harm, and so she’s suing the Thai restaurant that served the offending dish.
Dr Harjasleen Walia, a neurologist based in San Jose, has filed a lawsuit against Coup De Thai over the Dragon Balls dish it served her in 2023.
According to the lawsuit documents seen by Mercury News, Walia claims the dish burned her vocal cords, oesophagus, and the inside of her right nostril.
Having elected to represent herself in court pro se, according to a filing in May 2025, Walia claims that she asked her server to reduce the spice content of the dish as ‘she does not tolerate spicy foods’.
Despite the server allegedly agreeing to the request, the lawsuit says that Walia ‘felt her entire mouth, the roof of her mouth, her tongue, her throat and her nose burn like fire’ while her 'eyes and nose watered, and she began coughing’.
Walia claims she lost her voice and was soon diagnosed with ‘chemical burns’ from the chillies used in the dish.
"[She] incurred permanent injuries and will forever be damaged," the lawsuit says.
The Dragon Balls dish comprises ‘spicy chicken balls fried with mint, shallot, and green onion’, along with ‘cilantro, kaffir lime leaves, chilli and rice powder’.
As to where the intense heat came from, it was a bird’s eye chilli featuring 50,000 to 100,000 Scoville Heat Units (SHU).
After eating the dish, Walia’s lawsuit claims that she asked a server for dairy products to help soothe the burning, but she alleges that her request went unsatisfied.
“[No] milk, ice cream, yogurt, sour cream or other dairy product was provided or offered to Ms. Walia to quell the obvious burning,” according to the lawsuit.
"[Walia] drank an entire glass of coconut water and more water, but the burning did not subside."
It further claims that Coup de Thai ‘failed to take precautions by consulting with health officials or emergency service personnel regarding the risks associated with serving too much Thai chili in an appetizer like Dragon Balls’.
Coup de Thai has denied Walia’s claims, with a representative of the restaurant telling Mercury News that the dish couldn’t have been made less spicy as the chilli is blended into the meatballs.
The representative added that no one else has required medical attention relating to the food served at Coup de Thai.
FOODBible has contacted Coup de Thai for comment.
Featured Image Credit: Penpak Ngamsathain/Getty ImagesTopics: Restaurants and bars, US Food, News
Rachael Davis