At Last

In April 2016, the kitchen moved from Brasserie Enfin at Oasis Square to Menara Hap Seng in Kuala Lumpur, and the restaurant became Enfin by James Won. The French enfin — at last — held the register the new room would carry: a fine-dining house earned through three years of preceding work at the original venue, and ready, by 2016, to take the conversation further.

The Menara Hap Seng era is the Enfin most extensively recorded in the Malaysian luxury press. Tatler Asia, Robb Report Malaysia, FirstClasse, Harper’s Bazaar Malaysia, BURO 24/7, The Peak, Options / The Edge, and FoodForThought all carried the chapter; Sin Chew, Oriental Daily, Enanyang, and UFood held it in the Chinese-language press. Across the four years of operation, the restaurant earned the two distinctions that placed it in a category of its own: the Krug Chef’s Table — Malaysia’s only — and the Hennessy Salon — the only restaurant in the world to host the Hennessy Salon during its operating period.

What follows is the chapter as the press preserved it.

The Move and the Krug Chef’s Table (April 2016)

In February 2016, Oriental Daily recorded the relocation of Brasserie Enfin from Oasis Square to Menara Hap Seng — and the addition of the Krug Chef’s Table (Krug 香槟名厨尊桌), a 20-seat dedicated Krug salon within the new restaurant. In April 2016, Time Out KL carried the formal opening of the Krug Chef’s Table — Now Open: Krug Chef’s Table at Enfin by James Won — and the chapter that placed Malaysia on the global Krug Ambassade map began.

The Krug Chef’s Table operated through the Enfin years until the restaurant’s closure in 2019/2020. Bespoke menus designed for each seating, paired with Krug Grande Cuvée, RM 25,000 minimum spend (RM 1,250 per person, twenty guests). It was the first dedicated Krug salon in any restaurant in Malaysia.

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

The Hennessy Salon — The Only One in the World

In November 2016, Sin Chew Daily carried Hennessy XO 荣誉呈献·2016 年极致赏宴之旅 — the feature that named Chef James Won as Malaysia’s first Krug and Hennessy Ambassador, and Enfin as the only restaurant in the world to host the Hennessy Salon during its operating period.

The Hennessy Salon is the maison’s most prestigious accolade — a single distinction awarded to a single restaurant at a time, anywhere in the world. Enfin held it from 2016 through to closure. There was no second Salon in Malaysia. There was no second Salon, anywhere, during the period. Star2 / The Star Online (29 October 2016, Suzanne Lazaroo) and The Edge Options (7 November 2016) corroborate the world’s first register at primary-source depth.

The Salon held ten guests at its private table — bird’s-eye view of Jalan P Ramlee through floor-to-ceiling glass; cellar of Hennessy Cognacs dating to the 1930s; bespoke wood panelling and shelved cognac display.

The Tapestry Malaysia × Hennessy Series

Across the Enfin years, Tapestry Malaysia and Hennessy produced a series of six-senses multi-sensory immersive dinners staged in the room. Robb Report Malaysia, Options / The Edge, Prestige Online (Indonesia), and lifestyle blogger Ivy Aiwei (August 2018) each carried a chapter of the series. The Robb Report coverage of lobster bisque with ice plant under glowing digital fireflies and the Prestige Online framing of just like a movie […] paired with a peg of Hennessy XO are the most photographed editorial moments of the entire kitchen years.

A lobster bisque with ice plant […] complete with glowing digital fireflies.

Robb Report Malaysia · Tapestry × Hennessy

Reviews and Critical Reception

The press treatment of Enfin’s degustation work coalesced across four years of coverage. Tatler Asia carried the Grand Launch and the New Menu Built Upon Mature Reflection features; Harper’s Bazaar Malaysia ran the First Taste of the new degustation menu; FirstClasse held the Palates Bubbling With Glee review; FoodForThought published the Enfin by James Won review. BURO 24/7’s Won-drous feature captured the kitchen in three words:

In a realm of […] savoury, sweet, sheer brilliance.

BURO 24/7 · Won-drous

The Peak’s July 2019 piece — James Won Takes Malaysian Ingredients to the Next Level — recorded the kitchen’s increasing register-of-confidence as the chapter matured. What2See documented the dinner-degustation menu (RM 578, five courses, June 2019). Options / The Edge tagged the restaurant under its dedicated Enfin James Won outlet tag with multiple feature articles across the years.

The 18-Course Photography Collaboration (June 2019)

In June 2019, Enanyang documented one of the kitchen’s most distinctive single chapters: an 18-course photography series produced with a Malaysian food photographer. The two collaborators worked over a two-day shoot, with extensive creative discussion; the breakthrough moment of mutual recognition arrived on the Mushroom Tartar (course six), which the chef recorded as the dish that produced the conversation’s resolution.

Specific dishes from the series: The Egg (capturing Malaysian register at scale), and a fermented bean curd preparation infused with French elements. The series remains one of the strongest archival demonstrations of the chef’s culinary storytelling discipline at the Enfin register.

The Chinese-Language Press Footprint

The Enfin years carry an unusually deep Chinese-language press footprint. Beyond the Sin Chew November 2016 Hennessy XO feature and the Oriental Daily February 2016 relocation coverage, Enanyang documented the 18-course collaboration (June 2019); UFood / Oriental Daily carried multiple chef and restaurant profile pieces across the years. The footprint placed Chef James Won on the public record of the Sinophone Malaysian community as one of the named representatives of French cuisine in Malaysia.

The Closure and the Transition

Enfin by James Won closed in 2019/2020. The Krug Chef’s Table, the Hennessy Salon, and the Tapestry Malaysia × Hennessy series passed into historical record. Bouchon Enfin opened at Pavilion KL in late 2020 — a different register, a casual format, a different room — and the kitchen continued in the Enfin family until the COVID closure of 2021.

The closure of Enfin (Menara Hap Seng) is, in retrospect, the inflection point of the wider Restaurant Legacy arc. Everything before it was the building of the kitchen’s mature voice. Everything after it was the application of that voice to new circumstances — Bouchon Enfin (2020 – 2021), Shin’Labo (2022 – 2025), MeatMore (2023 – 2024), and ultimately the post-restaurant pivot to conservation and culinary diplomacy in 2025.