TUMALO – Good things can indeed come in small packages.

The Royal Thai Cafe proves this adage five days a week, say owners Mark and Jun Spofford.

With just eight tables in its tiny dining room, the Royal Thai Cafe isn’t long on space. It occupies a former burger house in downtown Tumalo, snugged up against the local convenience store.

But what the restaurant lacks in roominess, it makes up for in flavor, say the Spoffords.

The Spoffords serve southern Thai cuisine, a style of Thai cooking that comes from the rich seafood fisheries and bountiful tropical climate of Jun’s hometown.

The Spoffords opened their restaurant in Sisters nearly four years ago, but moved to Tumalo in February to take advantage of a smaller location closer to Bend.

”We wanted to downsize,” said Mark Spofford. ”And we provide (for) a need in this community for quick, inexpensive food.

”Bend is so overloaded with poor quality restaurants with high prices, we didn’t want to go into that jungle.”

Tumalo is not the gastronomical capital of Central Oregon; the only other restaurant in town is a steakhouse across the highway.

But it’s a short couple of miles to Tumalo from Bend, where a growing number of diners are coming from, said Mark. The six-mile trip west on Highway 20 can take less time than a cross-town commute through Bend’s traffic.

The Spoffords came to Central Oregon from Thailand, where Mark, a native Oregonian, met Jun, a Thai native. Both have a background in restaurants, and the couple worked in several Bend restaurants before opening their own.

Jun’s cooking reflects her upbringing in southern Thailand, a lush area where fresh seafood is as plentiful as tropical ingredients like coconuts. The Royal Thai’s menu is strong on southern Thai flavors, which are a little spicier than the more Chinese-influenced northern Thai cuisine, said Mark. Southern Thai food also has more flavors like lemon, lime and seafood.

”It explodes in your mouth,” said Mark.

Dishes like Pad Ped Talay ($12.50) are typical of the region with its halibut, prawns, mussels and salmon stir fried with herbs, spices and vegetables. Likewise the Thom Kha Ghai soup ($6.25 for a bowl that serves two) features strongly the flavor of coconut milk along with spices, lime leaves and ginger.

Jun said attention to detail and preparing each dish to order are important to her. Patrons can customize their dishes with less or more spice, the omission of ingredients or other special requests.

And if the eight-table dining room is too small, take-out is always an option. Mark said about 60 percent of the Royal Thai’s business is from take-out orders, with customers driving from Bend, Eagle Crest, Sisters and, of course, Tumalo, to pick up steaming, fragrant bags of food.

”We’re trying to fit that niche where we offer bang for your buck, good quality food and a local feel,” said Mark.

Julie Johnson can be reached at 541-383-0308 or jjohnson@bendbulletin.com.