Sunny Ting brings family recipes he learned from his father in Bangkok to Cleveland.
The fresh markets of Thailand help guide Sunny Ting and his 10-year-old Tremont bistro. As his family's first-born son, Ting started each day perusing the colorful, fragrant market aisles searching out the best ingredients for the family restaurant in Bangkok. "You walked around and got all they had," he says, "the fresh vegetables, fresh meat every morning." Ting still enjoys shopping the local markets for treasures such as the subtly sweet green papaya for the som tum ($7) papaya salad with a spicy lime dressing. A 4-by-12-foot garden wedged between the Jefferson Avenue restaurant and a parking lot offers a bounty of Thai sweet basil, chili pepper, mint, tomatoes and scallions during the summer. "We just grab a bunch daily," he says. It all comes together in authentic dishes he learned from his father such as the lad nar ($13) — a popular Thai street food and one of his dad's favorites— and the exquisite pad thai ($14). "I inherited the pad thai sauce from my dad," Ting says. His version includes a mix of tomato and tamarind sauces for a slightly sweet but tangy coating on the perfectly cooked rice noodles. "People love it." Don't Miss: Cooked in coconut milk, the mild massaman curry ($15) has hints of cinnamon and cardamom, and a fragrant aroma. Special Interest: Thai Fun goes beyond happy hour and makes an evening of it with $10 specials Monday (all noodle dishes), Tuesday (all curry dishes) and Wednesday (on the pad ma mung, pad kra prow, pad prig khing and pra ram chicken entrees). 815 Jefferson Ave., Cleveland, 216-664-1000, tyfunthaibistro.com
