Enfin by James Won

In April 2016 I moved from Brasserie Enfin at Oasis Square to Menara Hap Seng in Kuala Lumpur, and the restaurant became Enfin by James Won. Enfin is French for "at last", and the name fitted. Three years at the original address had earned a fine-dining room, and by 2016 we were ready to go further.

This is the Enfin the Malaysian luxury press wrote about most. Tatler Asia, Robb Report Malaysia, FirstClasse, Harper’s Bazaar Malaysia, BURO 24/7, The Peak, Options / The Edge and FoodForThought all covered it, and Sin Chew, Oriental Daily, Enanyang and UFood followed it in Chinese. In its four years the room earned two distinctions that no other Malaysian restaurant held: the Krug Chef’s Table, Malaysia’s only, and the Hennessy Salon, which no other restaurant in the world hosted while Enfin was open.

What follows is the work as the press recorded it.

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The move and the Krug Chef’s Table, April 2016

In February 2016 Oriental Daily reported the move from Oasis Square to Menara Hap Seng, and the Krug Chef’s Table (Krug 香槟名厨尊桌) that came with it: a 20-seat Krug salon inside the new restaurant. In April 2016 Time Out KL announced the opening, Now Open: Krug Chef’s Table at Enfin by James Won, and Malaysia had its place on the global Krug Ambassade map.

The Krug Chef’s Table ran for as long as Enfin did, until the room closed in 2019/2020. Each seating had its own menu, paired with Krug Grande Cuvée. The minimum spend was RM 25,000 (RM 1,250 per person for twenty guests). No restaurant in Malaysia had had a dedicated Krug salon before it.

Those familiar with Brasserie Enfin will understand the ambition: the Krug Chef’s Table at Enfin is the natural progression — a dedicated salon for the Ambassade work.

Time Out KL · April 2016

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The Krug degustation series

These were degustation evenings in the Krug Chef’s Table: bespoke tasting menus of seven and nine courses, paired with the maison’s Single Ingredient cuvées and editions of Krug Grande Cuvée. They ran through the room’s working years.

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The Hennessy Salon, the only one in the world

In November 2016 Sin Chew Daily ran Hennessy XO 荣誉呈献·2016 年极致赏宴之旅. It named me Malaysia’s first Krug and Hennessy Ambassador, and named Enfin as the only restaurant in the world to host the Hennessy Salon while it was open.

The Hennessy Salon is the maison’s highest honour, and it goes to one restaurant at a time, anywhere in the world. Enfin had it from 2016 until it closed. In that time there was no other Salon in Malaysia, or anywhere else. Star2 / The Star Online (29 October 2016, Suzanne Lazaroo) and The Edge Options (7 November 2016) are the primary sources for “the world’s first”.

The Salon seated ten guests at one private table. Floor-to-ceiling glass looked down over Jalan P Ramlee. There was a cellar of Hennessy cognacs going back to the 1930s, with bespoke wood panelling and shelves to show the bottles.

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The Tapestry Malaysia × Hennessy series

During the Enfin years, Tapestry Malaysia and Hennessy staged a run of six-senses dinners in the room. Robb Report Malaysia, Options / The Edge, Prestige Online (Indonesia) and the lifestyle blogger Ivy Aiwei (August 2018) each wrote about part of it.

Robb Report’s lobster bisque with ice plant under glowing digital fireflies, and Prestige Online’s “just like a movie […] paired with a peg of Hennessy XO”, are the most photographed moments of my whole restaurant arc.

A lobster bisque with ice plant […] complete with glowing digital fireflies.

Robb Report Malaysia · Tapestry × Hennessy

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Five plates from the room

People knew the room by what it served. These five plates carry its memory most clearly. Scroll the row below to see them.

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Reviews

Over four years the press came to a settled view of Enfin’s degustation menus. Tatler Asia published the Grand Launch and The New Menu at Enfin by James Won Is Built Upon Mature Reflection. Harper’s Bazaar Malaysia ran its First Taste of the new degustation menu. FirstClasse wrote Palates Bubbling With Glee, and FoodForThought published its review of Enfin by James Won. BURO 24/7 called its piece Won-drous and summed up the room in three words: “In a realm of […] savoury, sweet, sheer brilliance.”

In a realm of […] savoury, sweet, sheer brilliance.

BURO 24/7 · Won-drous

*The Peak*'s July 2019 piece, *James Won Takes Malaysian Ingredients to the Next Level*, recorded my growing confidence as the work matured. *What2See* wrote up the dinner degustation menu (RM 578, five courses, June 2019). *Options / The Edge* ran several features on the room over the years under its own *Enfin James Won* tag.

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The 18-course photography series, June 2019

In June 2019 Enanyang wrote about one of my most unusual projects: an 18-course photography series made with a Malaysian food photographer. We shot over two days and talked at length about the creative direction. The breakthrough, where each of us saw what the other was after, came on the mushroom tartare, course six, and that dish settled the conversation. Among the other dishes were The Egg, which showed Malaysian cooking at scale, and a fermented bean curd dish with French elements. I still think the series is one of the best records of how I told stories through food at Enfin.

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The Chinese-language press

Enfin was covered in the Chinese-language press more than most restaurants of its kind. Besides the Sin Chew Hennessy XO feature of November 2016 and Oriental Daily’s report on the move in February 2016, Enanyang covered the 18-course series (June 2019), and UFood and Oriental Daily ran several profiles over the years. Through that coverage, Chinese-speaking readers in Malaysia came to know me as one of the named representatives of French cuisine in the country.

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The video record

We filmed Enfin while it was open: service, course-by-course explanations, and the work with the maisons.

Open the Enfin by James Won channel on YouTube →

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The archive

More photographs of Enfin, from the working archive of its four years.

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The closure and what came next

Enfin by James Won closed in 2019/2020, and the Krug Chef’s Table, the Hennessy Salon and the Tapestry Malaysia × Hennessy dinners closed with it. Bouchon Enfin opened at Pavilion KL in late 2020. It was a different, more casual room, and it kept the Enfin name going until it closed in 2021 during COVID.

Looking back, the closure of Enfin at Menara Hap Seng was the turning point in my restaurant years. Before it, I was finding my own voice as a cook. After it, I used that voice in new settings: Bouchon Enfin at Pavilion KL during the pandemic, Shin’Labo at Lalaport, MeatMore in Bukit Bintang, and then cultural diplomacy from 2025.