On October 16, a Facebook account believed to be a member of Café Giang shared a photo of the singer, a member of K-pop boyband Super Junior, taken at the café on his personal Facebook page, with the caption saying even Super Junior members are charged as normal at the coffee shop.
"No food is free, so everyone is charged, no exceptions," the member wrote.
The Facebook post was quickly shared widely on social media and sparked outrage from Vietnamese web users and K-pop fans.
They said the post implied that Siwon had asked for a free drink, while he apparently did not.
"Disrespectful to customers," a user wrote in a Google review.
"The shop is worth a one-star rating for its attitude," another user wrote.
A screenshot taken on October 18, 2023 shows Vietnamese users give one-star ratings for Cafe Giang coffee shop on Google. |
On Tuesday, the official fan page of Café Giang made a public apology to Choi and his fans. At the time of publishing, Giang Coffee's fanpage has been locked, apparently to limit negative reactions from social media users.
Some K-pop fan pages have called on users to give one-star ratings for Café Giang on Google to express their outrage.
Giang's coffee shop is one of the oldest in Hanoi with a history exceeding 70 years.
Egg coffee is a signature drink at Café Giang in Hanoi. Photo by VnExpress/Hieu Luong |
It is named after its founder Nguyen Van Giang, known as the creator of the city's famous egg coffee. Giang invented egg coffee in 1946 when he was working as a bartender at Sofitel Legend Metropole Hotel.