文明辉Chef · Conservationist
James Won
Cooking for heritage, diplomacy and soul.
Photograph by Bonnie Yap
The plate
Food is my first language.
Twelve plates from fourteen years of cooking: the restaurants, the maisons and Serumpun Sarawak. Each one opens onto the story behind it.
Ambassadorships
Four maisons. Four firsts.
- HonoursTwo French knighthoodsOrdre du Mérite Agricole, 2024 · Ordre des Coteaux de Champagne, 2014
- ConservationSerumpun SarawakEndorsed by UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy Kuching
- TeachingAdjunct ProfessorTaylor's Culinary Institute
The keeper of something older
A chef, I have come to believe, keeps something older than himself.
I learned French technique in Paris and Lyon and the precision of Japanese yōshoku, then spent fourteen years in Malaysia turning that training into contemporary French cooking with Modernist techniques, across six restaurants. Since 2025 it has gone into Serumpun Sarawak, where I work with Borneo's thirty-four indigenous communities to record their food knowledge and cook from it. French Borneo, the cuisine I am building now, grows out of that work.
I hold two French knighthoods, and I take both as an obligation. If you have come with something in mind, a collaboration, an event or a question about Borneo, here is how we can work together. Every message is read.
The work
Four bodies of work
The Krug Chef's Table at Shin'Labo. Photograph by Bonnie Yap. The Hennessy Salon at Enfin. Photograph by Bonnie Yap. In conversation, Sarawak. Photograph by Atlas Collective. At the Shin'Labo counter. Photograph by Klaus Tan, Chuttersnap.
Nose to tail · Terroir · Terruño
Sustainability is how I cook, every day and on every plate.
From the farm to the tableCameron Highlands, January 2022. Photograph by Choo Cheng Fei.
On the record
“In a country where Champagne and fine wines are just starting their journey, James has been a pioneer since at least 2014.”
Manuel Reman, President of Maison Krug, LinkedIn recommendation, 15 September 2024
