[YouTube channel 'Jung Hyung-don's No Title TV']
[YouTube channel 'Jung Hyung-don's No Title TV']

Broadcaster Jung Hyung-don has opened a tonkatsu restaurant in Seongsu-dong, Seoul.

Jung opened the restaurant Monday, with a full public opening scheduled for Thursday, according to entertainment industry sources.

Historian Shim Yong-hwan promoted the opening on social media Monday, writing, "I attended the opening. The first location has opened in Seongsu-dong, and the menu is affordable yet hearty — really great." He added, "Personally, the menu combining stir-fried kimchi with tonkatsu is absolutely amazing. The tonkatsu served with tteokbokki is great too, and the black-battered tonkatsu was something I'd never seen before."

Shim also wrote, "I've already known this guy for 10 years now — he's a uniquely warm-hearted and shy person. I sincerely support Doni's tonkatsu venture, which has carved out its own place in an entertainment industry dominated by the generation born around the 1970s."

Jung had already relaunched the business in April, when he resumed selling tonkatsu products on home shopping channels for the first time in 13 years.

Jung launched the "Doni Doni Donkatsu" brand in 2011, selling more than 10 million packs through home shopping channels within about a year. At the time, he sold only packaged products and did not open a restaurant. In 2013, however, the manufacturer's representative and others were indicted without detention on charges of falsely labeling the loin content, and a fine was confirmed — drawing Jung into the controversy as well.

In a 2017 interview, Jung addressed the incident, saying the problem stemmed from the product's weight being listed without excluding moisture content. "I was told we became a scapegoat in a targeted investigation into substandard food, which the Park Geun-hye administration had designated as one of four major social evils," he said. "Given how harshly we were treated when there were no clear standards, I think there's some weight to that." He also said, "All this time, no one listened to what I or the company had to say. When it came down to it, whenever I tried to speak, people kept asking about other things, and I lost the courage to face the media."


paq@heraldcorp.com