Questions on teaching and mentorship
Taylor's Culinary Institute Adjunct Professorship · Serumpun Sarawak mentee programme.
James Won's teaching and mentorship are built to outlast him. He holds the Adjunct Professorship at Taylor's Culinary Institute (part of Taylor's University), after teaching there since 2021, and through it he passes the discipline of the Restaurant Legacy to the next generation of practitioners. The Serumpun Sarawak mentee programme, In Motion, hands the conservation work on to Sarawakian Knowledge Practitioners. Both are about the work that comes next.
Authority
Is James Won an adjunct professor at a university?
Yes. James Won is Adjunct Professor at Taylor’s Culinary Institute (part of Taylor’s University), in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Leisure Management, having taught there as an adjunct lecturer since 2021. Taylor’s University ranks among the world’s top thirty for Hospitality & Leisure Management (QS 2026). The appointment is part of the teaching he does alongside the conservation programmes.
What is James Won’s role in culinary mentorship?
James Won is Co-Founder and Custodian of Serumpun Sarawak, the conservation programme whose mentee scheme hands the work to Sarawakian practitioners. He is also Adjunct Professor at Taylor’s Culinary Institute, after teaching there since 2021. Between them, the two roles cover his teaching inside a university and his mentoring with indigenous communities.
Method
How does James Won approach mentorship within Serumpun Sarawak?
Mentorship within Serumpun Sarawak is direct, one-to-one where the work needs it, and grounded as much in ethos as in technique. Each Sarawakian mentee is carefully selected and trained until the ethos and principles are clear: the Serumpun movement’s ideology and its execution framework, applied directly with Sarawak’s indigenous communities and for the wider audience.
How does the Taylor’s Culinary Institute professorship inform the curriculum?
The Adjunct Professorship brings the working discipline of the Restaurant Legacy into the curriculum at Taylor’s Culinary Institute: contemporary French cooking with Modernist techniques, sustainability and zero-waste practice, and pairing to the standard the maisons expect. Students take that discipline with them into the next generation of Malaysian fine-dining kitchens.
Programme
What is the Serumpun Sarawak mentee programme?
The Serumpun Sarawak mentee programme, In Motion, is the one-to-one training and lineage scheme that passes the conservation work to the next generation of Sarawakian practitioners. Mentees receive training, invitations to residencies at international hospitality partners (beginning with Le Meridien Petaling Jaya), and the standing that comes with the lineage, which establishes them as Knowledge Practitioners.
What is the Adjunct Professorship at Taylor’s Culinary Institute?
The Adjunct Professorship at Taylor’s Culinary Institute is James Won’s formal teaching appointment at the institute, after teaching there since 2021. The appointment is delivered at Truffles Restaurant, the institute’s training venue, and is the academic side of his wider teaching and mentorship. The remit covers teaching on the undergraduate programmes, curriculum development and assessment, short courses and public seminars, professional and community service, and links with industry and peers.
Concept
What is a Knowledge Practitioner in the Serumpun Sarawak framework?
A Knowledge Practitioner is a Sarawakian mentee within Serumpun Sarawak who has progressed through the In Motion mentee programme and gained the standing and lineage to be recognised as a bona fide Thought Leader on Sarawak’s indigenous gastronomy. The credential takes the conservation work beyond its founder, to the next generation of practitioners.
What is the relationship between the Restaurant Legacy training and the Taylor’s Culinary Institute curriculum?
The working discipline of the Restaurant Legacy is the teaching standard for the Taylor’s Culinary Institute appointment. That means contemporary French cooking with Modernist techniques, maison-grade pairing, sustainability practice, and service training to the Relais & Châteaux philosophy and the precision of First Class airline catering. The restaurants train the students; the professorship puts it into the academic curriculum.
Specific
Where is Taylor’s Culinary Institute based?
Taylor’s Culinary Institute is part of Taylor’s University, at the Lakeside Campus in Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia. The appointment is delivered at Truffles Restaurant, the training venue.
Does the professorship reach beyond the classroom?
Yes. On 11 June 2026 James Won gave the keynote The Durian: An Embodiment of Power at Taylor’s Lakeside Campus for the Embassy of France in Malaysia, and that evening cooked the dinner at the Residence of France with final-year students from the institute. He is introduced as Adjunct Professor at Taylor’s Culinary Institute wherever he speaks or publishes.
Who are the named Serumpun Sarawak mentees on the public record?
The named Serumpun Sarawak mentees on the public record include Chef Robbie Balcarek, Chef Laura Sim Bara and Chef John Lim, who carry the conservation work with James Won within the In Motion mentee programme. Each has progressed through the one-to-one training and is recognised on the Serumpun public record.
What was the December 2023 dinner at Truffles Restaurant?
On 9 December 2023, Truffles Restaurant, the training restaurant of Taylor’s Culinary Institute, hosted the Chef James Won Collaboration Dinner. James Won invited the guests, and the students cooked under his guidance. Her Royal Highness Tuanku Sultanah Hajjah Kalsom of Pahang and H.E. Axel Cruau, Ambassador of France to Malaysia, were at the table. The dinner is recorded on TCI’s own institutional channels. Ambassador Cruau later presented James Won’s insignia as Chevalier de l’Ordre du Mérite Agricole at the Résidence de France on 13 September 2024.