Ahn Sungjae Apology Video Sparks Late-Night Snack Controversy

Chef Ahn Sung-jae has directly apologized after two weeks for the "wine swapping" controversy at his Michelin 2-star restaurant, Mosu Seoul. Previously, on the 21st of last month, an online user posted on a community cafe claiming they were "swapped for a vintage at Mosu." The author of the post alleged that they were served a 2005 vintage of Chateau Leoville Barton, which is about 100,000 won cheaper, instead of the 2000 vintage.

Chef Ahn Sung-jae stated on his social media on the 6th, "I sincerely apologize once again for the disappointment caused by the inadequate service at Mosu." While acknowledging his responsibility for the incident, he added that he wanted to explain in detail because misunderstandings that differ from the facts were spreading.

Chef Ahn explained that according to internal CCTV footage, four customers visited the table on April 18th. For the wine pairing with the Korean beef course, they were supposed to serve Domaine du Collier, La Charpentrie Rouge 2014 for the 7-glass pairing and Chateau Leoville Barton, Saint Julien 2000 for the 4-glass pairing. However, the sommelier in charge confessed that they mistakenly served the 2005 vintage instead of the 2000 vintage and described it as the 2005 vintage.

Furthermore, Chef Ahn admitted that after finishing the wine explanation, the sommelier realized the incorrect serving but failed to inform the customer. When the customer requested a photo of the wine label, the sommelier made the wrong judgment that "the photo should show the correct vintage" and showed a bottle of the 2000 vintage wine, which was different from the wine actually served. He also added that the flustered sommelier made improvised and highly inappropriate remarks, such as "The 2000 vintage wine was ordered by the bottle and was on the first floor," which were untrue.

Chef Ahn stated that the sommelier later made remarks along the lines of, "You are studying wine, and I hope this mistake allows you to compare the 2000 and 2005 vintages." He revealed that he had the sommelier submit a written explanation and took the measure of removing them from their duties as the customer's wine sommelier.