A Grandmother’s Love Inspires a Michelin-Honored Restaurant in Naples

For Chef June Disponga, the chef and co-owner of Tong Yin, the restaurant’s name has utmost significance.

“Tong Yin is my grandma’s name,” the chef says, her Thai accent still in effect. “When I was really young, I loved staying at my grandparent’s house. And I see my grandmother cooking — prepping, going to the market everyday just to make food for the whole family. And I followed her everyday to the market, to the kitchen, helping her.”

As a child growing up in northeastern Thailand, near the Laos border, Disponga’s calling came early in life — and that meant early mornings. “My grandma would wake me up at 4 in the morning,” she remembers. “I really wanted to go to the market with her. Today, when I go to the market, I still hear her say, ‘Okay, this is how you pick your tomato. This is how you pick your chili. You see how this fish is fresh, this shrimp is fresh?’”

In 2026, Tong Yin, which opened in ‘24, was one of two restaurants to earn a “Restaurant Selection” from the Michelin Guide in the first year it included Naples. “Receiving the Michelin recognition was very exciting and shocking at the same time,” Disponga says. “I also feel like my grandma is reborn again. I feel that, okay, from now on my grandma is going to help me cook in the kitchen again.”

An intimate eatery on 9th Street South in downtown Naples, Tong Yin was the third restaurant founded by Disponga and her partner Somi Vasitorn. The first was Ichi Togarashi, a pan-Asian place that opened in 2022. “We felt like, ‘Okay, we are Thai [people] — let’s do Thai only with Tong Yin,” Disponga says. (The partners opened their fourth Naples restaurant, Mimoto — a Japanese seafood café and sake bar — next door to Tong Yin in 2025.)

Despite its small size, Tong Yin has four or five chefs working in the kitchen everyday — on hand to prepare next-level Thai cuisine. Take, for example, the restaurant’s Pad Thai, a staple of Thai restaurants everywhere. Tong Yin’s version sets itself apart by including pork ribs. Disponga takes pride in the restaurant curries, which the kitchen staff makes from scratch. In an interesting twist, the Angus Beef Stew Massaman Curry is served over mashed potato.

Other creative delicacies include Mussel Drunken Basil (with fingerroot and peppercorn sauce), Dumpling Curry (with pork, shrimp and crabmeat) and the Nong Khai Papaya salad (with fish sauce, chili, pork rind and noodles). “Papaya salad is, for us Thai people, an everyday dish,” Disponga says. “You can have it morning, lunch and dinner. It’s something you eat with a partner, or with your friends, or with the whole big family.”

Disponga adheres to the five flavors in Thai cooking. “Sweetness — we use palm sugar,” she says. “Saltiness — some fish sauce. Some spiciness from fresh chili. Sourness — we use fresh lime. And bitterness from some other seasoning.” Then it’s a matter of blending those components into a delicious whole, one that excites the tastebuds from every angle.

“What I hear from customers is that we are not scared to put spice in our dishes,” Disponga says. “But it’s not only the spiciness, it’s the balancing of all the flavors.”

To Disponga, serving guests at Tong Yin is akin to feeding a family. “I grew up in a big family,” she says. “We cook together, we serve the food, we share the food together. And each dish is made from love that we share for our family members. So right here at the restaurant, we feel the same way.”

And it’s all but certain that Tong Yin’s guests feel the same way back.

Click here to book a table at Tong Yin.