Chef Ahn Seong-jae, the owner of Michelin two-star restaurant Mosu Seoul, posted a lengthy apology on the 6th after what’s been called a “wine-switching” controversy at his restaurant.
On Instagram the same day, he wrote, “I sincerely apologize again for the inadequate service at my restaurant Mosu that disappointed our guests.” He added, “I offer my deepest apologies to the customers who were understandably let down by this incident.”
He said he takes full responsibility for everything that happened at Mosu and explained that, because inaccurate information seems to be spreading, he felt it was his duty to lay out exactly how the situation unfolded.
According to Ahn, during a wine-pairing service on April 18, one guest in a party of four ordered the seven-glass pairing while the other three chose the four-glass pairing. The table that ordered the four-glass pairing should have received a 2000 vintage, but staff mistakenly served a 2005 vintage, which triggered the controversy. The sommelier’s handling of the mistake afterward also drew criticism.
Ahn said the sommelier realized the error late but did not immediately inform the guests. When a guest asked for a photo of the wine label, the sommelier—wrongly thinking the photo needed to show the “correct” vintage—showed a 2000 bottle without explaining the mix-up.
He added that the front-of-house team judged the matter closed, and he was only informed on April 21 after his two-day break. He emphasized that, even if he didn’t notice the issue at the time, that would not excuse it.
Ahn said he ordered the sommelier to submit a written account under company rules and has removed them from any future role handling guests’ wines. As the owner-chef who bears full responsibility for Mosu, he promised to tighten oversight and ensure this does not happen again, pledging that he and his team will do their absolute best going forward.
