July 9, 2026
WANGDUE – After more than seven years in Australia, Yeshey Choden and her husband Dawa Gyeltshen, both in their early 30s, had built the kind of life many dream of. They held permanent residency, owned a home and had carved out financial stability in a country that had given them opportunities far beyond what they might have found at home.
And then they gave it all up.
In 2022, the couple, both alumni of Bajothang Higher Secondary School in Wangdue, returned to Bhutan. The pull of home, they say, proved stronger than the security they had built abroad.
“Even before going to Australia, we had already planned to start our own business,” said Yeshey Choden. “Returning was never a question of if. It was always a question of when.”
That plan has since taken concrete shape. The couple established Acho Daka in Bajo Wonjokha, Wangdue. What began as a restaurant and bar has steadily grown into something far more ambitious. Today, the space offers coffee, restroom facilities, an arcade, a soft play area and, most recently, an Early Childhood Care and Development centre, all under one roof.
The name was drawn from shared memory. Growing up, both Yeshey Choden and her husband had been captivated by the Bhutanese folktale of Acho Daka, a familiar character woven into the cultural fabric of their childhoods.
“When it came time to start our business, we felt it was the perfect fit, familiar, meaningful, and easy for people to remember,” she said.
Now in its fourth year, Acho Daka occupies an unlikely location, roughly three kilometres from Bajothang town and more than eight kilometres from Khuruthang. Yet, it has steadily built a loyal customer base. Customers make the journey, the couple says, because they have come to trust what is on offer.
The menu ranges from local staples to international dishes, with signature items including pork chilli, sakam salad, and carbonara. But Yeshey Choden is clear about what she believes keeps people coming back.
“Above everything else, service matters most to us,” she said. “I believe that commitment to quality is why nearly 90 percent of our customers keep returning.”
Over time, Acho Daka has grown into more than a place to eat. It hosts live music on weekends, offering local artists a platform to perform, and has set aside a dedicated corner where Bhutanese authors can display and sell their books, with the business taking no cut of the proceeds.
“We help them sell the books without taking any profit,” said Dawa Gyeltshen. “It is our small way of supporting local artists.”
For the couple, the decision to leave Australia was never purely about business. It was also about identity.
Life in Australia had provided comfort and security, Yeshey Choden said, but it never offered a full sense of belonging. The fear of gradual cultural drift – of losing touch with language, values and community through years of distance – weighed heavily on both of them.
“We felt that if we stayed away too long, we might slowly lose touch with our own culture and roots,” she said.
The desire to raise their daughter within Bhutanese values deepened that resolve. At the time of their decision, the child was too young to travel, so the couple waited until she was old enough before making the move. Today, their daughter is four years old, growing up in the town her parents chose to return to.
The skills they brought back are not incidental to their success. Yeshey Choden studied cookery and hospitality in Australia, and that training shapes the kitchen and the service ethos at Acho Daka. Both she and her husband are hands-on in the day-to-day running of the business.
Their most pressing challenge, they say, is a shortage of qualified staff. Yet for now, the couple say they are exactly where they intended to be – building a livelihood of their own, contributing to their community and raising a child in the country they chose, even when they did not have to.