On honour

Recognition is the public record that the work has been done properly, by the right people, over the right span of years. I have set the honours out here once, in fuller detail. They are not the work itself; they are here because they show that the work has met the standards of the bodies that conferred them.

I have tried to keep this page restrained. Each credential is named once, dated, and explained as far as it needs to be. The honours can speak for themselves.

The French knighthoods

I hold two French knighthoods: one from the Champagne confraternity and one from the French state. I am the first Malaysian to hold both.

Chevalier de l’Ordre des Coteaux de Champagne (November 2014)

The Order of the Coteaux de Champagne is the historic Champagne confraternity founded in 1656 by the Marquis de Saint-Évremond to recognise contributions to the cultural standing of Champagne. Today it admits people whose work has taken Champagne’s heritage into new cultural and gastronomic settings: sommeliers, chefs, restaurateurs, scholars and ambassadors of the region.

I was inducted as Chevalier in November 2014 through the Singapore Chapter, at an intronisation held in Singapore. Maison Lanson supported the induction, and Anton Hobbs gave the patron’s acknowledgement on the maison’s behalf. The honour followed years of Champagne pairing work. In June that year I had been named Krug Ambassade Chef, the first Malaysian chef to receive the title, and the early Champagne work at Brasserie Enfin had begun to put Champagne at the centre of Malaysian fine dining.

Chevalier de l’Ordre du Mérite Agricole (1 July 2024)

“You are the only Malaysian chef in the 21st century to have received this award.”

H.E. Axel Cruau, Ambassadeur de France en Malaisie · at the investiture, 13 September 2024

The Order of Agricultural Merit is the second-oldest civilian order of the French Republic, founded by decree on 7 July 1883. It recognises distinguished service to agriculture, gastronomy and food culture, and honours people whose work has advanced the cultural and economic standing of agriculture and food.

The honour was conferred by the Arrêté du 1er juillet 2024 portant promotion et nomination dans l’ordre du Mérite agricole, signed by Marc Fesneau, Ministre de l’Agriculture et de la Souveraineté alimentaire. His Excellency Axel Cruau, Ambassadeur de France en Malaisie, presented the insignia at the Résidence de France in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, 13 September 2024.

The maison ambassadorships

Four of my roles are inaugural or first-Malaysian appointments with European luxury houses, whose standards I have been honoured to bring into Malaysian fine dining.

Krug Ambassade Chef: first Malaysian (June 2014)

Krug Ambassade is Krug Champagne’s worldwide community of restaurants and chefs recognised for the depth and discipline of their work with the maison’s cuvées. I was inducted as Krug Ambassade Chef in June 2014, the first Malaysian chef to receive it. That status came first, and it led to the Krug Chef’s Table, which began at Brasserie Enfin and opened as a dedicated salon at Enfin (Menara Hap Seng) in April 2016, with Krug Echoes: Single Ingredient as its founding pairing programme. The Krug Chef’s Table moved to Shin’Labo by James Won in February 2022, where it was Asia’s only Krug Chef’s Table at the time.

Gaggenau: first Malaysian Culinary Spokesperson

Gaggenau is the German maison whose kitchens set the standard for precision in European fine dining and in private residences. I am its first Malaysian Culinary Spokesperson, in an ongoing partnership that covers activations, content and cultural programmes.

The Plan: inaugural ambassador

The Plan is the luxury kitchen and wardrobe atelier representing Poggenpohl, Ernestomeda, Sub-Zero & Wolf and other European maisons in Malaysia and the region. I am its inaugural ambassador.

Mepra: inaugural ambassador

Mepra is the Italian tableware maison whose flatware and serviceware are among the finest in European fine dining. I am the inaugural ambassador for its regional presence.

The UNESCO endorsement

UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy Kuching has endorsed my efforts to conserve and promote Sarawak’s indigenous gastronomy, food culture, and edible medicinal flora and seeds. The endorsement puts the Serumpun Sarawak work on the record of Kuching’s designation as a Creative City of Gastronomy, which links the city to a worldwide network of cities recognised for their gastronomic heritage and their contribution to UNESCO’s wider cultural policy.

This endorsement is of a different kind. It is given to the work, as an institutional acknowledgement that the work serves the conservation purpose UNESCO’s designation exists for.

From the trade and the press

Below the institutional honours sit the awards that came in the ordinary rhythm of restaurant life: trade awards, listings in the dining press, and citations from the bodies that follow the work from year to year. Each appears once, in the order it was conferred.

Tatler Malaysia Best Restaurant Guide (2015 and 2016)

The Enfin rooms were listed in the Tatler Malaysia Best Restaurant Guide in two consecutive editions: Brasserie Enfin in 2015, and Enfin by James Won, the flagship at Menara Hap Seng, in 2016, with a rating of 4.5 out of 5. The Guide counted them among Kuala Lumpur’s defining dining rooms of the period.

Time Out Kuala Lumpur: Best New Opening (2016)

Time Out Kuala Lumpur’s Food and Drink team named Enfin by James Won Best New Opening for 2016, the year the restaurant set up its full programme at Menara Hap Seng. It was the moment the city’s diners started talking about the restaurant.

A.A. Taste Awards: Two Stars (2017)

Enfin by James Won received Two Stars at the 9th A.A. Taste Awards in 2017, conferred by the Anti Additive Clean Label Organization. The body judges kitchens on clean, additive-free cooking that keeps its flavour. The award recognised the farming and clean-food work we were doing at Enfin at the time. We fermented our own koji and rice wine to rely less on chemical processing and standard food additives, and the early sustainability work there later fed into the Serumpun Sarawak conservation programme.

Tatler Asia: 50 Groundbreaking Gastronomes (November 2018)

In November 2018 Tatler Asia named me among its 50 Groundbreaking Gastronomes, a regional list of people whose work has shaped the food culture and gastronomy of the region. The profile ran in the Malaysia edition of the index, with the other Malaysian practitioners selected that year.

Tatler Dining Guide: Shin’Labo by James Won (2023)

The Tatler Dining Guide listed Shin’Labo by James Won in its 2023 edition among the best Japanese-influenced dining experiences in Malaysia. Shin’Labo opened as a French-Japanese kitchen grounded in yōshoku technique and single-origin sourcing, and in February 2022 it took over the Krug Chef’s Table programme, which made it Asia’s only Krug Chef’s Table at the time of the move.

HAPA Awards 2023-2024: three accolades

In the 2023-2024 cycle of the Hospitality Asia Platinum Awards, the work received three awards.

The HAPA Special Recognition, Culinary Achievement Award came to me personally, for the whole span of my cooking. Shin’Labo received both HAPA Best Restaurant of the Year and HAPA Best Service Excellence. Between them, the three covered my own work as a chef and the restaurant’s standard of operation.

What the honours ask of me

Each credential brings an obligation. The Coteaux de Champagne honour asks me to represent Champagne’s cultural standing in good faith. The Mérite Agricole asks me to advance the standing of agriculture and food culture. The maison ambassadorships ask me to treat each house’s heritage with the care it was built on. The UNESCO endorsement asks me to serve indigenous gastronomy as conservation work, and never to put it on display as ethnography.

The work lies in the obligations the credentials create, more than in the credentials themselves.