Marlar Boon’s grandma/phwa phwa Mabel, known to most as ‘Auntie’, came to Aotearoa in 1976. After being taught how to cook by an Indian friend, she began inviting people to her home to share her dishes, and when a couple suggested she open a restaurant, she did — a Burmese eatery called Monsoon that went on to become a Pōneke/Wellington icon. Now, years after Monsoon’s closure, Marlar has opened a restaurant in the late Mabel’s name.
You must have spent a bit of time at Monsoon as a kid, Marlar? Sadly, no — it wrapped up two years before I was born. I did live a few doors away from my phwa phwa, though, so I remember being in the kitchen with her. My memories of her and food revolve around family and also community, and I’m so grateful that a lot of Wellingtonians have shared their own memories of Monsoon and Phwa Phwa with me, stopping us on the street as we painted
