Do Maria

**Fast Facts**
Type of person	Individual
Place of birth	Elizabeth Vale

Maria - Asian Central Gawler Mill

"Now we can have that BIG wedding! Maybe too big 😁 " By the time you read this Maria will be newly married! Congratulations Maria. very exciting... Maria is the manager of Asian Central, one of a handful of Asian restaurants here in Gawler. When her father was a young man he decided to leave Vietnam and escape the Cambodian war. He sailed out all by himself to Malaysia. Over a year later he ended up in NSW and stayed with his sister who lived at Wollongong. Sometime later he went back to Vietnam where he charmed his childhood sweetheart and they both moved back to Australia to Virginia to take up farming Maria was born in Elizabeth Vale and after spending some time back in Sydney, the family moved back to South Australia when she was 10 years old. She went to the Holy Family Catholic School for her primary school education before moving on to Saint Ignatius High School at Athlestone (which is where she met hubby!). Further studies lead to Law and primary school teaching.

"A friend of ours saw that in Salisbury we were really really busy and said, Why don't you come up to Gawler? I own a shop you can start another one up there..." Out of the blue, her parents opened up Asian Central at Salisbury. Her dad had dabbled with cooking before, just to try something different. The choice was made to come open up a shop at Gawler and it's a real family affair. Mum, Dad, and Auntie all work there and with no experience, Maria jumped straight into the manager's role. In fact, they'll rope in any family members they can! The shop has recently opened up for lunch from Tuesdays to Fridays and the most popular dishes are: - Mongolian Lamb - Sweet and Sour - Spring Rolls - Satay Skewers

"There's a real obligation, I feel I need to be there. Everyone in Gawler has been so helpful" She loves their yearly family holiday back home to Vietnam, she always looks forward to it. She was married last year on October 1st with Dad supplying the catering and loads of family coming over for the big occasion. It was a huge Vietnamese/Portugese fusion event!

First shared on Gawler in Photographs ‘Humans of Gawler’ series 23 August 2023.

Photographs by Daniel James Down. Please click here to visit the Gawler in Photographs Facebook page.

Gawler History Team Inc thanks Daniel James Down (Gawler in Photographs) and the subjects of ‘Humans of Gawler’ for allowing us to preserve their profiles and photographs for future generations of Gawlerites to enjoy.

Please click here to view photos of Maria Do.

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