Enfin by James Won
At last: the Menara Hap Seng years. Fine dining, the Krug Chef's Table, Malaysia's first Hennessy Salon, and the six-senses Tapestry Malaysia × Hennessy dinners.
In April 2016 I moved from Brasserie Enfin at Oasis Square to Menara Hap Seng in Kuala Lumpur, and the restaurant became Enfin by James Won. Enfin is French for "at last", and the name fitted. Three years at the original address had earned a fine-dining room, and by 2016 we were ready to go further.
Enfin by James Won was the room where I found my own voice as a cook. It opened at Menara Hap Seng in 2016 and ran until 2019/2020, and it held two rooms no other Malaysian restaurant had: the Krug Chef’s Table, the country’s only one, and the Hennessy Salon, Malaysia’s first. The press followed it closely, in English and in Chinese, and the coverage is listed at the foot of this page.
In early 2016 we moved from Oasis Square to Menara Hap Seng and brought the Krug work with us. The new restaurant had a dedicated Krug salon of twenty seats, the Krug Chef’s Table (Krug 香槟名厨尊桌), which opened in April 2016. No restaurant in Malaysia had had one before.
Each seating had its own menu, paired with Krug Grande Cuvée, and the table ran for as long as Enfin did. The minimum spend was RM 25,000, or RM 1,250 a guest for twenty.
Those familiar with Brasserie Enfin will understand the ambition: the Krug Chef’s Table at Enfin is the natural progression — a dedicated salon for the Ambassade work.
Time Out KL · April 2016
These were the Krug degustation evenings: tasting menus of seven and nine courses, each paired with the maison’s Single Ingredient cuvées and editions of Krug Grande Cuvée.
In November 2016 Enfin became Malaysia’s first Hennessy Salon. Star2 / The Star Online and The Edge Options reported it at the time, and Sin Chew Daily, writing in Chinese, named me Malaysia’s first Krug and Hennessy Ambassador.
The Salon seated ten at one private table. Floor-to-ceiling glass looked down over Jalan P Ramlee, and a cellar of Hennessy cognacs going back to the 1930s stood on wood-panelled shelves. Enfin kept it until the restaurant closed.
During the Enfin years, Tapestry Malaysia and Hennessy staged a run of six-senses dinners in the room. The course people remember is the last one: lobster in coral bisque with ice plant.
A lobster bisque with ice plant […] complete with glowing digital fireflies.
Robb Report Malaysia · Tapestry × Hennessy
Five plates the room was known for. Scroll the row to see them.
- Time Out Kuala Lumpur, Best New Opening, 2016.
- Tatler Malaysia Best Restaurant Guide, 2016.
- A.A. Taste Awards, Two Stars, 2017.
- MIID REKA International Design Award (RIDA), 2019.
The full account is on Recognition.
Over four years the reviews kept returning to the degustation menus. The line I keep is BURO 24/7’s:
In a realm of […] savoury, sweet, sheer brilliance.
BURO 24/7 · Won-drous
The reviews, from Tatler Asia’s grand launch in 2016 to The Peak in July 2019, are listed at the foot of this page.
In 2019 I made one of my most unusual projects at Enfin: an 18-course photography series with a Malaysian food photographer. We shot over two days and talked at length about the creative direction. The breakthrough, where each of us saw what the other was after, came on the mushroom tartare, course six, and that dish settled the conversation. Among the other dishes were The Egg, which showed Malaysian cooking at scale, and a fermented bean curd dish with French elements. Enanyang wrote about it in June 2019, and I still think the series is one of the best records of how I told stories through food at Enfin.
Chinese-language papers followed Enfin closely: Sin Chew, Oriental Daily, Enanyang and UFood. Through them, many Chinese-speaking readers in Malaysia first came to know my cooking.
We filmed Enfin while it was open: service, course-by-course explanations, and the work with the maisons.
More photographs of Enfin, from the working archive of its four years.
Enfin by James Won closed in 2019/2020, and the Krug Chef’s Table, the Hennessy Salon and the Tapestry Malaysia × Hennessy dinners closed with it. Bouchon Enfin opened at Pavilion KL in late 2020. It was a different, more casual room, and it kept the Enfin name going until it closed in 2021 during COVID.
Looking back, the closure of Enfin at Menara Hap Seng was the turning point in my restaurant years. Before it, I was finding my own voice as a cook. After it, I used that voice in new settings: Bouchon Enfin at Pavilion KL during the pandemic, Shin’Labo at Lalaport, MeatMore in Bukit Bintang, and then cultural diplomacy from 2025.
Questions answered
Is Enfin by James Won still open?
No. Enfin by James Won at Menara Hap Seng closed in 2019/2020.
What does the name Enfin by James Won mean?
Enfin is French for "at last". The name fitted the move from Brasserie Enfin at Oasis Square to Menara Hap Seng in April 2016, when we were ready to go further.
What was the Krug Chef's Table at Enfin by James Won?
The Krug Chef's Table at Enfin by James Won was a 20-seat Krug salon inside the restaurant, and no restaurant in Malaysia had had a dedicated Krug salon before it. Each seating had its own menu paired with Krug Grande Cuvée, with a minimum spend of RM 25,000.
What was the Hennessy Salon at Enfin by James Won?
The Hennessy Salon is the maison's highest honour, held by one restaurant at a time anywhere in the world, and Enfin by James Won held it from 2016 until it closed. It seated ten guests at one private table looking down over Jalan P Ramlee, beside a cellar of Hennessy cognacs going back to the 1930s.
Which dishes was Enfin by James Won known for?
Among the plates people knew Enfin by James Won by were three hawker flavours in two Bario rice grains, and hawker chicken rice à la Enfin. The mushroom tartare, an Enfin signature, came from the Krug Single Ingredient work.
The room earned its name, and I earned my voice.
On Enfin
Selected Press
Full archive →- 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
- Oriental Daily Krug 香槟名厨尊桌 Brasserie Enfin → Enfin by James Won relocation coverage 26 February 2016 ZH-CN
- Sin Chew Daily Hennessy XO 荣誉呈献·2016 年极致赏宴之旅 Malaysia's first Krug and Hennessy Ambassador · Malaysia's first Hennessy Salon 7 November 2016 ZH-CN
- Tatler Asia Enfin by James Won — Grand Launch 1 May 2016
- Tatler Asia The New Menu At Enfin By James Won Is Built Upon Mature Reflection 1 April 2018
More press (8)
- Robb Report Malaysia Hennessy × Chef James Won × Tapestry Malaysia 1 August 2018
- Harper's Bazaar Malaysia First Taste — Enfin — James Won's New Degustation Dinner Menu 1 June 2018
- FirstClasse Enfin by James Won — Review: Palates Bubbling With Glee 1 March 2017
- BURO 24/7 Review: Enfin by James Won Debuts New Menu And It's Won-drous 1 September 2018
- The Peak James Won Takes Malaysian Ingredients to the Next Level 22 July 2019
- What2See Enfin by James Won — Dinner Degustation Menu (RM 578, 5 courses) 1 June 2019
- Enanyang 18-course photography collaboration 29 June 2019 ZH-CN
- Prestige Online Indonesia Tapestry Malaysia × Hennessy multi-sensory dinner 1 August 2018
Read next
The wider fourteen-year arc
Brasserie EnfinThe first Enfin at Oasis Square, 2014 to early 2016
Bouchon EnfinPavilion KL, late 2020 to 2021
Shin'Labo by James WonMitsui Lalaport, 2022 to 2024
Krug ChampagneThe maison the Chef's Table opened for
Hennessy CognacThe maison the world's only Salon opened for
Enfin means "at last". It gave us three and a half years of Krug Chef's Tables, Hennessy Salon evenings, Tapestry six-senses dinners and an eighteen-course photography series. Everything I have cooked since was built on those years.