New Laboratory

Shin'Labo — new laboratory — opened in 2022 at Mitsui Shopping Park Lalaport KL, in the Mitsui-managed retail concept centred on Japanese craft and Malaysian indigenous produce. The cuisine was yōshoku in its formal lineage — Japanese craft in conversation with French classical technique, expressed through Malaysian terroir — and the room held the conversation at the registers of restaurant, salon, and ambassadorial private dining at once.

The restaurant operated for three years, closed in 2025, and is now part of the historical record of the kitchen’s twelve-year arc. Tatler Asia, Robb Report Malaysia, FirstClasse, BURO 24/7, Lifestyle Asia, and The Peak all carried the chapter; The Vibes recorded the HAPA Awards hat-trick; Pin Prestige carried the Balvenie pairing dinners in Chinese; Robb Report’s later coverage framed the Krug Ambassade work staged in the room as Ryoutei Shin’Labo — placing it in the high-end Japanese private-dining tradition.

What follows is the chapter as the press preserved it.

Identity, Cuisine, and Launch (2022)

The early coverage established Shin’Labo’s defining frame. Tatler Asia’s launch piece by Aaron Pereira (2022) carried the opening; FirstClasse named the kitchen’s discipline as “a culinary expression in both French and Japanese”; Lifestyle Asia KL recorded the cuisine as “marrying Japanese cuisine with French cooking, elevated through local ingredients”; Robb Report Malaysia held the maison-grade yōshoku register from the first review.

A culinary expression in both French and Japanese.

FirstClasse · 2022

The location at Mitsui Shopping Park Lalaport KL was not incidental. Travel & Leisure Asia’s coverage of the wider Mitsui retail concept — local produce, Malaysian indigenous ingredients, Japanese retail philosophy — placed Shin’Labo inside a Japanese-Malaysian conversation that the cuisine itself was already holding on the plate. The setting was the kitchen’s parallel architecture.

Reviews and Critical Reception

The dining press’s treatment of Shin’Labo coalesced around three threads: ingredient quality, the yōshoku framing, and the room’s atmosphere. BURO 24/7’s review of dinner, drinks and caviar at Shin’Labo by James Won described the room with one of the cleanest editorial framings of the entire kitchen years.

Tatler Asia’s second feature held the same register: “the ingredients are undoubtedly premium […] a tantalising range of sake.” The Peak ran an On the Cover feature, and later carried the launch of the Kikuyu Elevated Yōshoku Lunch Set (2022). Across the four pieces, what emerges is a kitchen that did not over-explain itself — and a press that recognised the discipline at first read.

Recognition — The HAPA Awards Hat-trick

In 2022, The Vibes recorded the chapter that placed Shin’Labo on the formal record of Malaysian hospitality excellence: a hat-trick win at the HAPA Awards. The piece carried the chef’s own framing — “a restaurant is only as good as its team” — which, surfaced once and not repeated, captures the operating posture that earned the recognition.

A restaurant is only as good as its team.

Chef James Won · The Vibes (HAPA Awards hat-trick)

The hat-trick is held with restraint on this sub-page. The recognition is in service of the kitchen, not the chef.

The Krug Room — The Resident Champagne Expression

Within Shin’Labo, the Krug Room functioned as the resident champagne expression — the salon-format chapter where the chef’s continuing Krug Ambassade work was staged. Robb Report Malaysia’s later coverage framed the room as Ryoutei Shin’Labo — invoking the Japanese ryoutei (料亭) tradition of high-end private dining.

The Krug Chef’s Table relocated from Enfin (Menara Hap Seng) to Shin’Labo in February 2022 — making Shin’Labo, per the maison’s brand register, home to Asia’s only Krug Chef’s Table. Krug Grande Cuvée and Krug Rosé 26ème Édition were poured for the Ambassade work, the Pininfarina × Mepra × Chef James Won special edition was used exclusively, and the Krug Music Pairing tradition continued the conversation that had started at Enfin’s Krug Chef’s Table in April 2016.

Brand Pairings and Programmes

Shin’Labo was the venue at which much of the chef’s brand work landed across its operating years.

The Macallan — the formal Dining Experience programme commenced 15 February 2022 and ran for twenty-four months through 14 February 2024. Three programme registers (Whisky Dining Experience, Cocktail Activation, Premium Spirit Activation across all three rooms). Limited Edition flagship: The Harmony Collection Rich Cacao, with Jordi Roca and Polly Logan; 94-bottle allocation to Shin’Labo. The 007 James Bond 60th Anniversary launch, where Shin’Labo was named among six authorised KL establishments.

Mortlach — the launch chapter (September 2022), before the dedicated Mortlach Room moved to MeatMore (29 August 2023 onwards).

The Balvenie — the PinPalate pairing dinners covered by Pin Prestige in Chinese, featuring Caribbean Cask, Port Wood, and aged-statement releases (April – May 2022).

Glenfiddich — the Grand Yozakura 29-Year-Old activation, where the maison’s Japan-finished Speyside expression met the kitchen’s yōshoku discipline.

Louis XIII — the 2022 activation that placed T’lur Malaysian caviar at the centre of a global Louis XIII pairing for the first time. The campaign — Les Voyages du Caviar — ran across April – June 2022.

BMW — the electrified menu designed for the BMW i7 launch.

Mepra — used exclusively at Shin’Labo throughout the operating period (no other restaurant in Malaysia served on the maison’s flatware).

Locational and Concept Context

Mitsui Shopping Park Lalaport KL is a Mitsui-managed retail concept in Bukit Bintang City Centre. Travel & Leisure Asia’s coverage explained the host environment — local produce, Malaysian indigenous ingredients, Japanese retail philosophy, Japanese-Malaysian retail architecture. Shin’Labo’s siting inside that architecture was not incidental. The mall was a Japanese-Malaysian retail concept hosting a Japanese-French-Malaysian kitchen; the alignment was the operating principle.

The 2025 Closure and the Pivot

Shin’Labo closed in 2025 as part of Chef James Won’s deliberate pivot from operating restaurants to conservation and culinary diplomacy work — the same year the Serumpun Sarawak movement reached its first international showcase at Seaside Studio CASO, Osaka.

The closure was not an ending; it was a turning. The kitchen’s discipline did not leave the chef. It found a larger room — first the Mulu rainforest, then the wider state of Sarawak, and ultimately the Sarawak Cultural Village succession of April 2026.