Our Story
We are a small Irish company who aim to make store-cupboard essentials you can’t live without. It makes us happy to see our chilli oils and rāyu cuddled up alongside your ketchups, mayos and mustards.
We source the best and tastiest ingredients we can get our hands on to make small batches of our signature jars of ‘craic’ sauce. (That’s what people used to call it in our early days in Dublin.)
We are cooks, well-practised in balancing flavours and tastes. Our hope is that you can have restaurant standard delicious-ness in the cosy comfort of your own home.
The White Mausu Trajectory
1987
Katie, our founder, was born in Hong Kong in the year of the rabbit.
She grew up between there and the West of Ireland with a fierce love of food and cooking.
Katie’s gran, a whiz in the kitchen, had a habit of calling all her grandchildren “mice.” Since Katie was the tallest and the palest of the bunch, she earned the nickname “Big White Mouse.”
2016
Katie and Jasper meet at Dublin’s iconic Fumbally Café. Amidst cooking eggs, a working relationship—and a little romance—sparks.
One day, Ash, the café’s owner, brought in a jar of Taberu Rāyu made by a local legend, Azu. For Katie, it was a flavor revelation, evoking the chilli oils of her childhood. Inspired, she created her own version for the café’s sandwiches, adding roasted peanuts and a touch of Irish honey.
2017
Katie and Jasper started a summer restaurant in a boat shed on Ireland’s west coast, naming it Dillisk, after the seaweed. They cooked local fish on a homemade tandoor, foraged from the shoreline, and kept big jars of homemade Peanut Rāyu to lash onto staff meals.
2018
Between summer adventures, Katie worked as a nomadic chef, championing simple cooking and the magic of great sauces to transform even the most simple of meals. With a traveling larder of sauces, pickles, ferments, and homemade chilli oils.
The idea to start jarring them up was born.
2019
After a buzzing run at Dublin’s weekly flea markets—where we picked up rave reviews and a few die-hard fans—it wasn’t long before our first stockists came knocking. Soon, our jars were lining the shelves of indie shops, supermarkets, and the coolest cafés across the country. With a baby on the way, we swapped our chef whites for full-time sauce-making—and never looked back.
2020
We landed our first stockists in the Uk. (word of mouth has always been our friend) we got endorsements from Nigella Lawson, Jay Rayner, Darina Allen and Marcus Wareing which helped us massively. We started an online shop and started shipping to all the corners of the world.
2023
An exciting design moment came when we started working with Bureau Bonanza and gave our branding and logo a refresh. All In the midst of a turbulent time for all food businesses and massive price increases felt by all. A reminder that it’s not always plain sailing. Then our Black Bean Rāyu got listed as Michael Roux Junior’s desert island ingredient which was a massive pick me up and a real seal of approval. Phew.
2024
Our Stockists grow and grow reaching almost 1200 stores across the UK, Ireland and rest of the World. Many local, some boujie, all lovely. Then we landed a deal with Marks & Spencer, a big move for a small company.
2025
Our small team of Katie, Jasper and Lorcan is steadily growing the business, with life/work balance at the fore. There will be some amazing contributions from other creatives and professionals as we move into 2025. Watch this space….
Origins, Inspiration & Representation
