Chef Anh Sung-jae, who runs Michelin 2-star restaurant 'MOSU Seoul', has continued uploading YouTube videos despite the "wine swap" controversy and is facing public backlash.
On the afternoon of the 6th, the "Chef Anh Sung-jae" channel operated by Anh Sung-jae uploaded a video titled "Four late-night snack menus recommended for a slightly hungry night | An Seong-jae geodeongyo." The production team added in the video description, "Today's scheduled content has been replaced with a late-night menu highlight. We ask for the broad understanding of subscribers who were waiting to watch". The new content was replaced with a highlight video in consideration of the earlier wine swap controversy at 'MOSU Seoul'.
On the 21st of last month, a post titled "I was subject to a vintage swap of Château Léoville Barton at MOSU Seoul" was posted on a Naver cafe. The pairing wine announced in advance was 'Château Léoville Barton Saint-Julien 2000 vintage', but due to a sommelier's mistake the 2005 vintage was served.
But the sommelier did not explain the situation, and when the author of the post, a person surnamed A, requested to photograph the vintage label, staff replaced it with a 2000 vintage bottle without any separate guidance, causing a problem. Only then did the person surnamed A notice the wine had been served incorrectly and raise the issue, and the sommelier reportedly said, "A 2000 vintage bottle had been brought down to the first floor," and "We will let you taste the 2000 vintage as well."
Criticism poured in over the mistake of serving the wrong wine with a price difference of 100,000 won at a Michelin 2-star fine dining restaurant and the fact that the responsible sommelier did not offer a proper apology. Eventually 'MOSU Seoul' posted an apology on its official social media on the 23rd, and the person surnamed A also revealed in an additional post that they had received a separate apology from 'MOSU Seoul.'
Meanwhile, many expressed disappointment that Anh Sung-jae, the executive chef of 'MOSU Seoul', did not take special action. Because the incident happened at an establishment bearing his name as a "Michelin 3-star chef" and a customer who trusted him and visited suffered harm, he cannot be completely absolved of responsibility.
In particular, the "Chef Anh Sung-jae" channel uploaded videos on April 22 and 29, immediately after the initial exposé was posted, drawing ire. Although the April 29 video was replaced with a highlight, critics said it was problematic that uploads continued on YouTube in silence over the controversy. That video received 14,000 dislikes alone, and comments followed criticizing Anh Sung-jae's irresponsible attitude. Nevertheless, the "Chef Anh Sung-jae" side deleted controversy-related comments without a separate statement, which further enraged viewers.
Finally, two weeks after the controversy, on the 6th Anh Sung-jae posted a lengthy statement and apology on his social accounts. However, it was framed as an explanation responding to fake news about the wine swap spreading through recent YouTube channels. Anh Sung-jae said, "Everything that happened at MOSU is rightfully my responsibility. But because misunderstandings that are not consistent with the facts seem to be spreading, I thought it was my duty to explain in detail how this occurred, so I am writing this."
He then provided a detailed explanation and said, "We instructed the sommelier in question to submit a statement of circumstances according to company regulations, and we have taken measures to exclude them from the position responsible for customers' wines going forward. To all customers, as the owner chef who bears infinite responsibility for MOSU, I promise to thoroughly manage and take every precaution to ensure this does not happen again. We will take this as an opportunity to remember the essence of the restaurant, the proper attitude of those working in the foodservice industry, and a sincere heart toward food and customers, and we will humbly strive while keeping our original intentions. My team and I will sincerely do our best and work hard. Once again, I sincerely apologize for disappointing you and MOSU."
But only an hour after the apology was posted, a new video appeared on the "Chef Anh Sung-jae" channel. Even if the production team directly operating the channel has upload authority, the cold reaction followed that the move looked like a makeweight tactic to post an apology just to upload to YouTube, a kind of 'covering one's eyes and saying everything's fine' approach.
The new video also quickly received nearly 4,000 dislikes, and disappointed reactions such as "You're posting a new video at a time like this?" continue to pour in.
[Photo] OSEN DB, Chef Anh Sung-jae
[OSEN]