"Please Don't Do That While Using Someone Else's Name"
Chef Lee Yeon-bok expressed his displeasure over some restaurants claiming to be his 'disciples.'
On the 1st, the chef wrote on his social media service (SNS), "There is something many people do not know, so I want to inform you," and stated, "Since I was young, I was a bit aggressive while working, so I was disliked by seniors, no senior accepted me as a disciple, and I wandered alone, studying hard by myself to come this far. Therefore, I have no mentor."
He added, "These days, too many people are claiming to be 'Lee Yeon-bok's disciples,' so I am posting this."
He recently mentioned a Chinese restaurant expanding into a franchise, saying, "They said business was not going well and asked for help, so I took photos, but they are promoting themselves as my disciples in Dongtan, Daejeon, and Nonhyeon-dong."
Chef Lee said, "There are many places in Hapcheon, Incheon, Bomun-dong, etc., but other places omit my name," and added, "Please do not use someone else's name like that. If anyone reading this post uses SNS, please correct it."
After Chef Lee's post was published, netizens responded with comments such as, "There are restaurants that come up when you search 'Chef Lee Yeon-bok disciple,'" and "I had no idea." One netizen commented, "I saw Chef Lee Yeon-bok himself reply to a review of a restaurant," to which the chef explained, "I replied, but it was not corrected, so I am informing publicly like this. I am not upset, but I am worried people might be deceived."
Chef Lee, who is of Chinese-Korean descent, reportedly stopped his studies at the age of 13 when he was in the 6th grade at a Chinese school and started working in the kitchen. He began his chef career at the Savoy Hotel in 1977, passed the exam to become the head chef at the Taiwanese Embassy in Korea in 1980, and after serving as executive chef, he is now the owner-chef of the Chinese restaurant "Mokran."
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