Hennessy
Four years of cooking with cognac, from Kuala Lumpur to Saigon.
For four years, from Kuala Lumpur in 2014 to Saigon in 2018, Hennessy gave my cooking a room of its own and a stage beyond Malaysia.
My work with the maison began in autumn 2014, when Hennessy brought its X.O Appreciation Grows, In Good Company series to Kuala Lumpur: five evenings, two chefs and one cognac. I was paired with Chef Accursio Craparo, of the one-Michelin-star Accursio Ristorante in Sciacca, Sicily. Prestige noted it was the first time the series had put two chefs at one event, and The Star gave the evening its headline: Two Chefs and a Famous Cognac Create a Cuisine for Gourmands.
With Chef Accursio Craparo, autumn 2014, and the durian moment, when Sicily met Sarawak at one Hennessy table. Photographs courtesy of Maison Hennessy and MHD Malaysia.
We’re both from different backgrounds but we’re able to communicate through the language of food.
Accursio Craparo · Prestige Malaysia (Audrey Wong), September 2014
In June 2015 Brasserie Enfin was the Malaysian launch venue for the Hennessy 250 Collector Blend, made for the house’s 250 years. FoodMsia wrote of its “aromatic tones ranging from herbal […] balance of subtlety and complexity”. That is still how I cook with Hennessy: subtle first, with the complexity kept in check.
Egg, lobster and spring chicken from In Good Company, 2014; pork belly and yam gnocchi, the signature of the Hennessy 250 table, 2015. Photographs courtesy of Maison Hennessy and MHD Malaysia.
In November 2016 Sin Chew Daily named me Malaysia’s first Hennessy Ambassador. That same year Enfin by James Won, at Menara Hap Seng, became home to Malaysia’s first Hennessy Salon. Suzanne Lazaroo described it in Star2 as “a private space with an amazing vertical library of the precious Cognac.”
The Salon seated ten guests at one private table, behind floor-to-ceiling glass above Jalan P Ramlee, with a cellar of Hennessy cognacs going back to the 1930s. When Enfin closed, the Salon closed with it.
The Hennessy Salon at Enfin, and inside the Salon: ten guests and the 1930s cellar. Photographs courtesy of Maison Hennessy and MHD Malaysia.
Late in 2016 Appreciation Grows became the Hennessy Odyssey at Enfin. With Chef Nurdin Topham of the Michelin-starred Nur in Hong Kong, I wrote a Sabah menu, Land Below the Wind, answering the seven tasting notes Hennessy calls the seven chapters of X.O.
The Odyssey ran for a month at Enfin: invitation-only dinners from 31 October 2016, then open to the public until 30 November.
With this new platform, we are looking at breaking rules, changing structure. The emphasis on local ingredients is a huge difference. Hennessy X.O works well with Asian cuisine, and local herbs and spices bring out previously hidden dimensions in it.
James Won · Star2 (Suzanne Lazaroo), 29 October 2016
The first course looked like an egg, scented with torch ginger flower and citrus. It was almond milk, with briny oyster leaf and ice plant.
Photographs courtesy of Maison Hennessy and MHD Malaysia.
In 2018 the Tapestry Malaysia × Hennessy dinners turned Enfin into a six-senses room, where the cognac, my menus and Tapestry’s sensory design shared the table. Robb Report Malaysia described lobster bisque with ice plant under glowing digital fireflies.
The maison also held a Vinyl-Powered dinner at Enfin, with the cognac, the music and my menu running as one evening.
That May the work travelled. H-Gourmet took my Hennessy X.O cooking to Saigon: French technique with Vietnamese ingredients. Doanh Nhân Saigon’s headline carried the line “Vietnam sở hữu nguồn nguyên liệu đáng tự hào”: Vietnam has ingredients to be proud of.
It was the first time my Hennessy cooking left Malaysia. Nine Vietnamese titles covered it, among them Elle Man, Harper’s Bazaar and Esquire.
Tapestry × Hennessy at Enfin, 2018, and H-Gourmet, Saigon, May 2018. Photographs courtesy of Maison Hennessy and MHD Malaysia.
Day to day I worked with Moët Hennessy Diageo Malaysia, the same team that looks after Krug here.
The Salon was an honour, and it was also a standard to cook to. The honour belongs to the past; I still cook to the standard. When I moved from restaurants to conservation and culinary diplomacy in 2025, the Hennessy habits came with me: cognac earns its place at the table through good food, good company and the right measure.
Twelve films from 2014, 2016 and 2018, in one row; scroll sideways to watch.
Films commissioned by Moët Hennessy Diageo for Maison Hennessy and Tapestry Malaysia.
Every photograph and every film from my years with Hennessy, in one place. Photographs courtesy of Maison Hennessy and MHD Malaysia.
Open the archive Four years gathered: 24 photographs, 7 films
Photographs
Films
The goal of this experience is to bring forward the best of two worlds — Hennessy X.O and fine culinary ingredients.
James Won · Prestige Malaysia (Audrey Wong), September 2014
Selected Press
Full archive →- Prestige Malaysia Hennessy X.O Appreciation Grows By Audrey Wong · Indulgence section, pp. 210 to 211 1 September 2014
- China Press 中国报 Hennessy X.O 名厨赏宴 — 佳酿与美馔完美互配 Preview · p. C20 15 August 2014 ZH-CN
- China Press 中国报 Hennessy X.O 名厨赏宴 — 好伴同行 Advertorial · Accursio Craparo × James Won · p. 07 30 August 2014 ZH-CN
- The Star Two Chefs and a Famous Cognac Create a Cuisine for Gourmands 8 November 2014
- FoodMsia Hennessy 250 Collector Blend Food Pairing — Brasserie Enfin Malaysian launch venue · June to July 2015 1 July 2015
More press (10)
- Star2 / The Star Online A Journey of Taste By Suzanne Lazaroo · source for the Hennessy Salon at Enfin 29 October 2016
- The Edge Options On a Taste Odyssey Hennessy Odyssey · Sabah-themed Land Below the Wind menu 7 November 2016
- Sin Chew Daily 星洲日报 Hennessy XO 荣誉呈献·2016 年极致赏宴之旅 Malaysia's first Hennessy Ambassador 7 November 2016 ZH-CN
- Robb Report Malaysia Hennessy × Chef James Won × Tapestry Malaysia Weave Together Immersive Dining Experience 1 August 2018
- Prestige Online Indonesia Dinner: Enfin by James Won served multi-sensory immersive experience 1 August 2018
- BURO 24/7 A Culinary Odyssey with Hennessy X.O at Enfin Vinyl-Powered dining concept 1 September 2018
- Elle Man Vietnam Sự hòa quyện ẩm thực độc đáo tại H-Gourmet Saigon · regional chapter 29 June 2018 VI
- Harper's Bazaar Vietnam Người sành điệu thưởng thức đúng điệu tại H-Gourmet 1 June 2018 VI
- Doanh Nhân Saigon Đầu bếp Pháp của đêm tiệc H-Gourmet — Việt Nam sở hữu nguồn nguyên liệu đáng tự hào 1 June 2018 VI
- Focus Malaysia (FocusM) Hennessy in good company — Appreciation Grows preview By Choo Ching Yee · photos by DD Hoe · p. 30, benchmark section 6 September 2014