The maison closest to the fire
A 343-year-old German house, the cooking that meets it, and a Malaysian first.
In September 2024 Gaggenau named me its first Malaysian Culinary Partner and Ambassador, the maison's first appointment in Southeast Asia. Since then I have built the Steward Circle for Gaggenau Malaysia, so that its kitchens are cooked in, and not only admired.
Gaggenau began in 1683 as an ironworks in the Black Forest village whose name it took. Over three centuries it became the German maker whose ovens, hobs and steam units set the standard for the European fine-dining kitchen. Of everything the house stands for, engineering that knows when to hold back is the one I measure my own work against most.
Gaggenau named me its first Malaysian Culinary Partner and Ambassador in September 2024, its first appointment in Southeast Asia, and Design Speak Asia, Creative HomeX, Robb Report Malaysia, IndesignLive and Cittabella carried the news. When I told Design Speak Asia “It mirrors my own culinary philosophy”, I meant it. The partnership grew out of two workshops that think about the work in the same way. IndesignLive read it as a change in how Malaysian cooking sits between European craft and Southeast Asian terroir.
On 2 October 2024 I cooked the Grand Launch Dinner at Inspiration Haus, with a media lunch earlier that day. Uni with miso lemon tuile and fermented lemon dashi over kiku chawanmushi; salmon brûlée with rice koji and a sauce of house-fermented heirloom grain wine; Bidor duck aged twelve days, with a tuak and Bentong ginger risotto.
The Grand Launch Dinner at Inspiration Haus, 2 October 2024: the table, the wok and the grill. Photographs by Bonnie Yap.
In February 2025 the maison marked the partnership at Inspiration Haus with The Breakfast Table: A Toast to Partnership. Gary Te, Chief Executive Officer of BSH Home Appliances Malaysia, gave the address and presented my Gaggenau jacket.
His exceptional talent and relentless pursuit of perfection resonate deeply with our own commitment to delivering unmatched luxury and performance.
Gary Te, Chief Executive Officer, BSH Home Appliances Malaysia · The Breakfast Table, February 2025
The investiture, a taste with Gary Te, and the Gaggenau Malaysia team, February 2025. Photographs by Bonnie Yap.
The morning ended at the hob, with a live MasterClass for the guests and the plates that came from it.
The MasterClass at the hob, and two of the plates, February 2025. Photographs by Bonnie Yap.
The most important work I have done in the role is building the Steward Circle for Gaggenau Malaysia, at Inspiration Haus, the maison’s flagship in Kuala Lumpur. Too many Malaysian homes and show units have installed Gaggenau as an object of desire, with the steam oven never opened. The Circle makes it a kitchen people cook in.
In 2026 it became a year of editions under one idea, The Proof. The Pause. The Plate. I show one result on an appliance, the room is quiet for ten seconds, and then everyone tastes.
On 11 February 2026 the Circle gathered twenty architects, designers and specifiers for three live proofs. Miso-lacquered salmon finished in the oven in under two minutes. Scallops seared on flex induction with Sarawak pepper brown butter and calamansi, the ventilation keeping the room comfortable. Otoro held in the Vario cooling, to show that protecting an ingredient after you bring it home is part of honouring it.
On 9 July 2026 I taught The MasterClass at Clout Haus, Menara TA One: twelve guests and one method in four moves, Protect, Build, Finish, Plate. Calamansi-cured salmon, silken tofu steamed with tobiko and baby shrimps, a gula Melaka and cinnamon-lacquered leg of lamb, and prawns seared to finish.
For owners I wrote home recipe cards: the same method for a home kitchen, from a miso-lacquered salmon “brûlée” to scallops with Sarawak pepper.
The Circle serves four groups. Architects and interior designers bring their clients to see and taste what they specify. Owners, and those still deciding, find people who use the kitchen as it was built to be used. Home cooks learn the thinking from my twelve years in fine dining, adapted for the home: a steam oven runs the same way in a three-Michelin-star kitchen as it does in a house. And the maison sees its kitchens used, not left idle behind glass.
In a quiet way it is the part of my Gaggenau role closest to cultural diplomacy: a European maison and a Southeast Asian audience in the same way of working. The Circle exists so the fire gets lit at home as well as in the showroom.
Mepra is closest to the hand, The Plan to the room, and Gaggenau to the fire: one ambassadorship at each depth of the European kitchen. The 2025 move from restaurants to conservation and cultural diplomacy did not change my work with Gaggenau. The role continues, and so does the Steward Circle. Wherever my next kitchen is, Gaggenau will probably be in it.
Other frames from Inspiration Haus, the launch and The Plan atelier.
Open the archive 13 frames, photographed by Bonnie Yap
On the record
“This is a historic moment for Gaggenau and the entire Malaysian culinary community.”
Selected Press
Full archive →- Design Speak Asia Gaggenau Introduces First-Ever Malaysian Culinary Partner James Won First Malaysian announcement, primary record 1 September 2024
- Creative HomeX Gaggenau Welcomes Chef James Won as First Malaysian Culinary Partner Ideal ambassador framing 27 February 2025
- IndesignLive Cooking from the heart, designing with precision: Chef James Won and Gaggenau’s culinary partnership 25 March 2025
- Cittabella Gaggenau × Chef James Won Chinese-language press 1 March 2025 ZH-CN
- Robb Report Malaysia Gaggenau Taps Up MasterChef James Won as its First Malaysian Culinary Partner First Malaysian announcement, regional flagship 3 March 2025