Brasserie Enfin
Where it began. A French bistro at Oasis Square, Petaling Jaya, and the first Krug Ambassade in Malaysia.
The original Brasserie Enfin opened at Oasis Square, Ara Damansara, in Petaling Jaya on the western edge of Kuala Lumpur, on 2 June 2014. It stayed for about two years and moved to Menara Hap Seng in early 2016 as Enfin by James Won. The format was a French bistro. On opening night the Krug representative came to the room to judge whether Brasserie Enfin could be appointed a Krug Ambassade. Six weeks later, on 14 July 2014, the first Krug Ambassade was announced and celebrated.
At the same time I ran Bad Boy Cooks, an American-style diner, alongside Brasserie Enfin at Oasis Square. Running fine dining and comfort food side by side was an early version of what I would later do at MeatMore in 2023.
What sets the room apart from most first restaurants is that it was a Krug Ambassade, the first in Malaysia, from its opening night.
The Krug Ambassade: how it started (2014)
Krug’s history in Malaysia begins at Brasserie Enfin. Because of the trust between MHDM and Maison Krug, the house was willing to make Brasserie Enfin the home of its first Krug Ambassade here, a room to bring Krug Champagne to people who love good food. Part of the job was to retire an old idea: that champagne is only for an aperitif or a toast, and cannot stand up to a great meal. The complexity of Krug let me widen what I cooked, and pushed me further into marrying Asian ingredients with European technique. That is where French Borneo cuisine started for me.
Brasserie Enfin opened on 2 June 2014. On opening night Julien Pepin Lehalleur, the Krug representative, came to the room. He was there to decide whether Brasserie Enfin could be appointed and recognised as a Krug Ambassade. The dinner was a four-course Krug Degustation, cooked as the test. We passed, and the room was appointed.
The opening-night four-course Krug Degustation, 2 June 2014
Four courses written as the room’s test. Julien tasted, and the room was appointed.
The first Krug Ambassade, announced 14 July 2014
Six weeks after we opened, on 14 July 2014, the first Krug Ambassade was announced and celebrated. I wrote a five-course Krug Ambassade menu for the evening (an amuse and four courses), paired with Krug Grande Cuvée and the house’s seasonal expressions.
The brigade and the portrait
The brigade had been built around the menu. Bonnie Yap’s portrait announced the Ambassade publicly.
The earliest press (2014)
The Star’s Krug Champagne — A Touch of Majesty (13 December 2014) was the first Krug feature on me in a major paper. It put on the public record the Ambassade work that had been going since 2 June 2014. The Star’s New Year Feast for Friends came two weeks later, and showed a room comfortable cooking for a luxury year-end table.
Krug Champagne — A Touch of Majesty.
The Star · 13 December 2014
Hennessy at Brasserie Enfin (2014 to 2015)
In November 2014 Hennessy’s Appreciation Grows programme came to Kuala Lumpur, and I was paired with Accursio Craparo, a one-Michelin-star chef from Sicily. Two chefs from two traditions met over the house’s cognac.
Tatler Asia, Rebecca Saw and The Star (8 November 2014) covered the evening. The Star’s headline, Two Chefs and a Famous Cognac Create a Cuisine for Gourmands, put me beside European Michelin chefs from the very start of my work with the house.
In June and July 2015 Hennessy came back for the Hennessy 250 Collector Blend tasting and pairing dinner. That was two years before the formal Ambassade and three years before the Hennessy Salon at Menara Hap Seng.
Aromatic tones ranging from herbal […] balance of subtlety and complexity.
FoodMsia · July 2015
Glenmorangie at Brasserie Enfin, August 2014
Esquire Malaysia online (4 August 2014) wrote up Whisky for Dinner, a four-course Glenmorangie degustation pairing three expressions (The Original, 18 Years Old and Signet) with an Asian-French menu. So in the founding year, Glenmorangie, Krug and Hennessy made three houses working with me, course by course, in a bistro at Oasis Square.
Five plates from the wider room
Beyond the Krug menus, the bistro cooked a wider repertoire.
How the press saw it, and the move
By early 2016 the Malaysian press was writing about Brasserie Enfin by name. Oriental Daily’s Chinese-language coverage (26 February 2016) and The Star’s Brasserie Enfin Is A New Won-derland (10 April 2016) came as the move to Menara Hap Seng was being announced.
In early 2016 I moved to Menara Hap Seng. The new room took the name Enfin by James Won and a formal fine-dining format. The Krug Chef’s Table, begun at Brasserie Enfin with the Ambassade work of 2014, reopened there as a dedicated salon in April 2016. The Hennessy Salon at Menara Hap Seng followed in November 2016.
The fine-dining room at the tower grew out of what the bistro had already done.
The archive: other frames
A small gallery of frames that did not make the main story. They are here for the record, and for anyone who wants to stay with the room a little longer.
Photograph: Brasserie Enfin archive.
Photograph: Brasserie Enfin archive.
Questions answered
Is Brasserie Enfin still open?
No. Brasserie Enfin ran at Oasis Square from 2014 to early 2016. In early 2016 I moved to Menara Hap Seng, and the new room took the name Enfin by James Won.
How did Brasserie Enfin become a Krug Ambassade?
On opening night, 2 June 2014, the Krug representative Julien Pepin Lehalleur came to Brasserie Enfin to judge the room over a four-course Krug Degustation. We passed, and on 14 July 2014 the first Krug Ambassade in Malaysia was announced and celebrated.
What was on the Krug opening-night menu at Brasserie Enfin?
The four-course Krug Degustation at Brasserie Enfin opened with caviar and toast, then scampi two ways, capon and rice-wine risotto, and a deconstructed durian and Roquefort crème brûlée to close. The capon risotto was the dish that won the table.
Which maisons worked with Brasserie Enfin?
Krug, Hennessy and Glenmorangie all worked with Brasserie Enfin in its founding year. In November 2014 Hennessy's Appreciation Grows paired me with Accursio Craparo, a one-Michelin-star chef from Sicily, and in August 2014 Esquire Malaysia wrote up a four-course Glenmorangie degustation.
What kind of food did Brasserie Enfin serve?
Brasserie Enfin was a French bistro. Cooking for Krug pushed me further into marrying Asian ingredients with European technique, and that is where French Borneo cuisine started for me.
The maisons came to a small bistro first, because the work there had already earned the right to host them.
On Brasserie Enfin
Selected Press
Full archive →- The Star Krug Champagne — A Touch of Majesty The first Krug feature on me, confirming the Ambassade work under way since June 2014 13 December 2014
- The Star New Year Feast for Friends Year-end cooking at Brasserie Enfin 28 December 2014
- The Star Two Chefs and a Famous Cognac Create a Cuisine for Gourmands Hennessy Appreciation Grows, paired with one-Michelin-star Chef Accursio Craparo of Sicily 8 November 2014
- Esquire Malaysia Whisky for Dinner Four-course Glenmorangie degustation 4 August 2014
- Tatler Asia Hennessy Appreciation Grows with Chef Accursio Craparo 1 November 2014
- FoodMsia Hennessy 250 Collector Blend at Brasserie Enfin 1 July 2015
- Oriental Daily Brasserie Enfin to Enfin by James Won: coverage of the move 26 February 2016 ZH-CN
- The Star Brasserie Enfin Is A New Won-derland 10 April 2016
- UFood / Oriental Daily 大厨的年味故事 — 下 21 January 2017 ZH-CN
- Star2 LIFE (Life Inspired) The little restaurant that could By Sharmila Nair, photographs by Raymond Ooi · pp. LI 26 to 27 · two-page profile 10 May 2015
Cross-references
Two years at Oasis Square, and the first Krug Ambassade in Malaysia. Three prestige-spirit launches came before the formal ambassadorships. The maisons came to a small bistro before they came to the fine-dining room, because the work had already earned the right to host them. Brasserie Enfin is where the work began.