After 13 years of running Cobar Thai, owner Nandar (Amm) Soe Sein and her husband Nay Linn are now looking for a new business venture in Western Australia.
It’s a bittersweet move for the pair and their two young sons because, despite having loved living in Cobar, the family feels the move to WA will be in their best interests.
“We like to travel back to Asia to visit our families and living in WA, we’ll only be five hours away,” Amm said.
“We’ll also have access to a Burmese community in Perth.
“That will give Nestor and Noah the opportunity to mix with an Asian community and learn about our culture and our religion.
“The boys have never had that. They have not been to a temple, seen a monk, been part of Burmese celebrations.
“We’d like them to have the opportunity to experience some of our heritage.
“Cobar has been a very friendly and lovely community.
“It’s a very safe place,” Amm said.
“We are going to miss Cobar and all our wonderful friends.”
The couple have bought a home in Rockingham and intend to take a break from working for a few months to get settled in.
Their plan is to open a new restaurant, but not straight away.
“We want to get a feel for the area and find a good location.
“We already have a couple of customers in WA (who have visited the restaurant in Cobar) and they are waiting for us to open our restaurant in Perth.
“I’m also going to take some time to get the kids settled into school and just be ‘mum’ for a year,” she said.
“We’re sad to be leaving but plan to visit Cobar again, maybe with a caravan.”
Amm and her mother, Kay AungLinn, came to Cobar 13 years ago to set up Cobar Thai.
Originally from Burma, they came to Australia looking for more opportunities and began working in Sydney.
On a friend’s recommendation, Amm, supported by her mother, took a chance and decided to open a restaurant in Cobar.
On May 8, 2011 they opened Cobar Thai with a group of local invited guests treated to a Thai feast at the restaurant’s grand opening.
Cobar Thai quickly developed a reputation for excellent food and service.
Nay joined the business (and the family) when he moved to Australia in 2014.
The pair had known each other for some time through their siblings—Amm’s sister is married to Nay’s brother.
Nay and Amm were married in a small service at Cabramatta. (They returned to Burma for a big family wedding celebration in 2016.)
The couple like Australia and have loved living in Cobar.
Both became Australian citizens and their two sons, seven year old Nestor and almost four year old Noah, have grown up in Cobar.
“We’ll always remember Cobar—we had lots of firsts here—first business, got married, bought our first house, had our first born Nestor and it’s the first
home Noah has known,” Amm said.
