White Tree, who shut down a crab restaurant with 'false accusations,' now faces controversy over unauthorized filming at a noodle shop

YouTuber Hayantree has been embroiled in controversy for unauthorized filming of a noodle restaurant featured on SBS's "Baek Jong-won's Alley Restaurant." Photo by Hayantree

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Choyoung] The YouTuber 'Hayantree,' who previously caused a famous soy sauce marinated crab restaurant to halt operations by falsely exposing food reuse, is now embroiled in allegations of unauthorized filming at a noodle shop featured on SBS's 'Baek Jong-won's Alley Restaurant.'

In February, Hayantree uploaded a video on their channel visiting a noodle shop that appeared on the Alley Restaurant. In the video, Hayantree evaluated the anchovy noodles by saying, "It seems like the rich broth was diluted with plain water," and added, "The initial taste impression doesn't last until the end."

They continued, "If there is a rich broth, it tastes like water was added to that broth," and "While it has the taste of rich anchovy broth, the aftertaste feels like just drinking water, which is somewhat disappointing."

The controversy arose on the 20th when the noodle shop owner posted that Hayantree had secretly filmed the video and was conveying incorrect information about the broth.

The noodle shop owner explained, "Hayantree secretly filmed (in the store), and what made me angry was that we adjust the broth to individual tastes if it is too strong or bland, but after eating, they called it plain water and misrepresented the broth-making method."

They added, "So I explained to Hayantree and wrote comments, but they deleted all of them," and "I couldn't properly explain, and in the end, it became known as a plain water noodle shop. Our charm is the rich broth, so I sincerely hope YouTubers make proper broadcasts."

As the noodle shop owner's post gained attention, netizens poured in criticism, and Hayantree disabled comments on the video.

A comment left by the owner of a noodle restaurant on a YouTuber's channel video. Photo by YouTube capture

Previously, in December last year, Hayantree posted a video visiting an all-you-can-eat soy sauce marinated crab restaurant in Daegu, raising suspicions of food reuse by claiming that rice grains appeared in the refilled crab.

Upon investigation, it was revealed that the rice grains entered during the process of pouring the soy sauce that Hayantree was eating into the refilled crab, and when Hayantree visited the restaurant to shoot an explanation video, the restaurant had already ceased operations amid criticism.

At that time, the soy sauce marinated crab restaurant owner appealed on the Blue House National Petition board, saying, "I cannot understand the YouTuber's behavior of leaving the video to spread indiscriminately," and "It is very unfair that a store that operated diligently overcoming COVID-19 for over a year had to close because of one false video by a YouTuber."

Following the controversy over the noodle shop review, Hayantree posted a clarification on their YouTube channel on the afternoon of the 24th.

They admitted, "It was clearly wrong to film and upload the video without permission from the noodle shop," but also said, "Many people want honest reviews and hope for frankness. If you want to watch videos that only say good things, it would be better to watch advertisements," indicating that the criticism has yet to subside.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.