Krug
A friendship with a champagne house, built over twelve years.
- HouseChampagne
- SinceKrug Ambassade Chef · June 2014
- DistinctionFirst Malaysian
- The roomOne of six Krug Chef's Tables · 2016
- In AsiaAsia's only Krug Chef's Table
Krug is the longest relationship I have with any house: twelve years, three rooms in Kuala Lumpur, and a place among the maison's chefs worldwide.
It began at dinner. On Brasserie Enfin’s opening night, 2 June 2014, I cooked for Julien Pepin Lehalleur, then Krug’s head of business development for the US and Asia. It was the maison’s first taste of my cooking.
“On the opening day of Brasserie Enfin, I actually hosted a dinner for Julien Pepin Lehalleur, the head of business development for the US and Asia at Krug. He had been coming to Asia for years but never been to Malaysia. I was doing crazy things like durian crème brûlée with blue cheese macaroons. We served the Grand Cuvée that evening. Needless to say, he was blown away.” James Won, Options, c. 2016
That same month Krug invited me into the Ambassade, its own circle of chefs who answer each year’s Édition with their cooking. I was the first Malaysian in it. Men’s Uno Malaysia put the month in print in April 2016: “于2014年6月获邀加入此独一无二的Krug大使团队”, in June 2014 I was invited to join the Krug Ambassador team.
The Krug Ambassade three-chef tasting, Tokyo, photograph by Carol Sachs; the Hong Kong portrait, hung at the House of Krug, photograph by Jenny Zarins.
The table began at Brasserie Enfin. In April 2016 it became a room of its own: the Krug Chef’s Table at Enfin, in Menara Hap Seng. Time Out KL counted six in the world that year, and ours was the only one in Asia.
One party of up to twenty guests sat at a long table of two woods, reached by a spiral staircase wrapped in gold. Each seating had its own menu, paired with Krug Grande Cuvée and served on Luzerne tableware. Time Out KL wrote that it was “obvious that there was no expense spared in the design of this private dining room.”
In February 2022 the table moved with me to Shin’Labo by James Won at Mitsui Shopping Park LaLaport KL, which described itself as “home to Asia’s only Krug Chef’s Table.”
The Krug Room at Enfin, April 2016, and the Krug Chef's Table at Shin'Labo Ryoutei, 2022. Photographs by Bonnie Yap.
Each year the maison picks one ingredient and asks the Ambassade to cook with it alongside Krug. I have cooked several of these briefs, from egg and mushroom to rice and lemon at Shin’Labo.
Krug × Egg, from the book Poached, Scrambled or Fried? (2016), photograph by Jenny Zarins; Krug × Mushroom, from the book From Forest to Fork (2017), photograph by Carol Sachs.
For the 2019 Pepper edition I went to Oaxaca, to the growers and the ground the peppers come from. What I brought back was Hakka yong tau foo in a red pepper. It is my most iconic creation: my attempt at the French Borneo principle, and a way of keeping the Hakka tradition alive in Malaysia.
On the farm in Oaxaca, and the Krug × Pepper creation, 2019. Photographs by Sepp Dasbach.
For the 2023 edition the Krug Chef’s Table served six courses with Krug Grande Cuvée 170ème Édition and Krug Rosé 26ème Édition, each built on the lemon. The signature was Le Entrée: caviar, miso lemon tuile, fermented lemon dashi and kiku chawanmushi.
Walk into Krug × Lemon: the full menu, Bonnie Yap’s photographs and three pairing films.
Krug’s other ritual is the Krug Music Pairing. Each year musicians are invited to answer the Édition, so that bottle, plate and music arrive in waves rather than one after another. It sits close to the storytelling in my own cooking.
Each year, the maison invites musicians into their bubbly experience.
Olivier Krug, sixth-generation director, Krug Champagne · Tatler Asia
In 2024 the Italian gastronomy publication Geisha Gourmet wrote about the Krug Ambassade and named me among its chefs. The piece ran as Suonami e Versami un Krug: sound me, and pour me a Krug. It arrived without my asking.
The Ambassade is Krug’s to give, from Reims. In Malaysia the house is distributed by Moët Hennessy Diageo Malaysia (MHD), so the relationship has two sides.
Manuel Reman, President of Maison Krug, has looked after the Ambassade at maison level. David Dang, Marketing Manager for Wines and Champagne at MHD, carried the Krug Chef’s Table programme alongside me. In Options magazine’s An Affair to Remember he said:
James shares the same values as the House of Krug. He sees clearly the bridge between culinary pleasures and Krug’s soul, and he puts forward this link in a simple but impactful manner. Both the chef and the restaurant space dedicated to Krug must strive for excellence in the art of food presentation.
David Dang, Marketing Manager, Wines and Champagne, MHD Malaysia
The Krug Ambassade Chef portrait at the House of Krug, Reims, photograph courtesy of Maison Krug; with Olivier Krug and Maggie Henriquez at the Maison, photograph by James Won.
My relationship is less with a brand than with the people who have carried it into Malaysia.
Enfin closed, then Shin’Labo in early 2025. The Ambassade never needed a restaurant to keep going; the friendship had always been bigger than any one room.
In 2023 the maison handed me its official Instagram for twenty-four hours. So far I am the only chef it has asked. The takeover and the films from the Single Ingredient editions are below; scroll sideways to watch.
All films commissioned by Moët Hennessy Diageo Malaysia on behalf of Maison Krug.
Every photograph and film from twelve years with Krug, in one place. The Krug × Lemon page has its own photographs and pairing films.
Open the archive Twelve years in one place: 26 photographs, 3 films
Photographs
Films
Three more pairing films from the Krug × Lemon menu are on the Krug × Lemon page.
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.”
Selected Press
Full archive →- The Star Krug Champagne — A Touch of Majesty Brasserie Enfin, Oasis Square, where it started 13 December 2014
- Time Out KL Now Open: Krug Chef's Table at Enfin by James Won By Lim Chee Wah · Asia's only Krug Chef's Table 1 April 2016
- Men's Uno Malaysia A Gastronomi Adventure Issue 216, pp. 152 to 155 · the firm primary source for the June 2014 Ambassade Chef date 1 April 2016 ZH-CN
- Options magazine An Affair to Remember By Brian Cheong · Krug Chef's Table profile, quoting David Dang and Julien Pepin Lehalleur 1 June 2016
- STAR2 / The Star (Sunday Magazine) A Won-derful new Enfin Cover feature, photographed by David Yeow 10 April 2016
More press (8)
- Robb Report Malaysia Turning the Tables By Renyi Lim · Luzerne fine china × Chef James Won 1 November 2015
- Tatler Asia Chef James Won Announced as First Malaysian in Krug Ambassade Network 1 June 2016
- Robb Report Malaysia James Won, Krug, Ryoutei Shin'Labo, Champagne The Krug Chef's Table moves to Shin'Labo, February 2022 13 September 2022
- Citta Bella Krug Champagne 与 Shin'Labo by James Won 的香槟之约 1 August 2022 ZH-CN
- Pin Prestige PinPalate Review on Krug Chef's Table at Shin'Labo Restaurant 18 October 2022
- Food for Thought The Zest is Yet to Come — Krug Ambassade James Won By Nicholas Ng · the continuing work 9 September 2023
- Geisha Gourmet Suonami e Versami un Krug Italian gastronomy press, the international conversation 1 January 2024 IT
- The Edge Options Progressive gastronomy — Krug Chef's Table at Enfin By Shalini Yeap · Op15 · an earlier feature, separate from the April 2016 An Affair to Remember 22 February 2016