Authorised Biography

Short (100 words)

James MF Won (文明辉) is a France-knighted culinary visionary, cultural strategist, and luxury brand collaborator based in Kuala Lumpur. He holds the Chevalier de l’Ordre du Mérite Agricole (Republic of France, 2024) and the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Coteaux de Champagne (2019) — the first Malaysian chef to hold both. Malaysia’s first Krug Ambassade Chef (2014) and Gaggenau’s first Malaysian Culinary Spokesperson (2024), he is also the founder of Serumpun Sarawak — a UNESCO-endorsed conservation movement elevating the gastronomy of Borneo’s 34 indigenous communities. He teaches at Taylor’s University Culinary Institute.

Extended (250 words)

James MF Won (文明辉) is a France-knighted culinary visionary, cultural strategist, and luxury brand collaborator based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Trained in Michelin-starred kitchens in France and Japan, he returned to Malaysia to open his first restaurant in 2013, building a portfolio of eight concepts across a twelve-year career.

In 2024, James was conferred the Chevalier de l’Ordre du Mérite Agricole by the Republic of France — one of the nation’s most distinguished civilian honours, recognising his services to French agricultural and gastronomic excellence. He had previously been inducted as Chevalier de l’Ordre des Coteaux de Champagne in 2019, becoming the first Malaysian chef to hold both French honours simultaneously.

He is Malaysia’s first Krug Ambassade Chef (inducted June 2014), the only Chef Ambassador to have been invited back across every edition of the Hennessy X.O Gastronomy Series, and Gaggenau’s first Malaysian Culinary Spokesperson (2024). In 2025, he was appointed inaugural Ambassador for Mepra S.p.A. in Malaysia and Southeast Asia.

His culinary philosophy — French Borneo — synthesises classical French rigour with the living indigenous knowledge of Borneo’s 34 communities, developed through sustained research with the Biodiversity Centre of Sarawak. The resulting conservation movement, Serumpun Sarawak, was launched under the mandate of the Sarawak State Government in July 2025, presented at Expo 2025 Osaka, and permanently adopted by Sarawak Cultural Village in April 2026. It carries formal endorsement from UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy — Kuching.

James Won teaches at Taylor’s University Culinary Institute, where he has been Adjunct Lecturer since 2021.

Key Facts at a Glance

Selected Quotes

The following quotes are cleared for editorial use with attribution to James Won.

“The plate is not a canvas for self-expression. It is a promise to the person seated before it.”

— James Won, on culinary philosophy

“French Borneo is not a fusion. It is a conversation — between the discipline of the classical kitchen and the living wisdom of the forest.”

— James Won, on French Borneo cuisine

“I do not chase applause. I curate emotion, provoke thought, and build legacies — not just events.”

— James Won

“Every dish carries the handprint of those who taught me. The honour is understood. The responsibility is not forgotten.”

— James Won, on Serumpun Sarawak

“Self-awareness is not humility as performance. It is the understanding that the knowledge one carries is borrowed, entrusted, and must be returned with care.”

— James Won

Media Coverage Record

Press Contact

All media and editorial enquiries — interviews, features, editorial commissions, photography requests, and fact verification — should be directed to:

Email: connect@chefjameswon.com

Please indicate your publication, deadline, and the nature of the enquiry. All media requests are routed through the office and answered with the care the work deserves.

For the visual editorial archive — video, photography, and moving image — visit the Media Centre.