Lee Dong-gun, who opened a cafe in Jeju Island on ‘My Ugly Duckling’, has received praise as a ‘dessert hotspot’ after overcoming various difficulties. Among them, ‘waffles’ garnered the hottest response.
Recently, Lee Dong-gun opened a cafe in Jeju, which was his dream, and on the 18th, he revealed the preparation process for the first time on the SBS entertainment program ‘My Ugly Duckling’ (hereafter ‘Miwoo-sae’).
Before the soft opening, Lee Dong-gun met Lee Sang-min at his cafe and shared the reasons for opening a cafe in Jeju and the realistic hardships, including the cost of interior design. Dong-gun's mother in the studio expressed concern about the cafe opening, saying, “This is the first time I’m hearing this.”
On that day, Lee Dong-gun received menu consulting from Yoo Jeong-soo, who is called the ‘God of Cafes’ by self-employed individuals, writing a myth of 70 billion won in annual sales.
Lee Dong-gun introduced, “I make Turkish-style coffee. It’s a Mediterranean cafe, and I plan to create desserts centered around kaymak,” adding, “The landlord reduced the rent for those running cafes in Aewol. I minimized the interior to save costs.” He then proudly presented the desserts he had researched himself.
However, Yoo Jeong-soo bluntly remarked, “It took 11 minutes to make. At this speed, the store will go bankrupt,” making Lee Dong-gun sweat. He gave relatively high scores for the sand coffee and desserts, advising on ‘sugar adjustment’ and details, but pointed out that it took too long.
Continuing with his criticisms, Yoo Jeong-soo presented a groundbreaking solution to speed things up on the spot, impressing everyone.
After thorough preparations, the soft opening day finally arrived, and Lee Sang-min and Koo Bon-seung came to support Lee Dong-gun. The three were flustered by the flood of orders before they even had time to create the menu, but they satisfied customers with friendly service, flexibility, and above all, taste.
In particular, a customer who tasted the waffles exclaimed, “I want to eat it again,” and “It’s refreshing inside. This is a dessert hotspot,” praising the cafe. A group of customers said, “We canceled three schedules to come here. I spent three hours just to see these three,” which moved Lee Dong-gun.
Earlier, Lee Dong-gun announced the opening of his cafe last month. After the cafe opened, complaints from nearby cafe owners about Lee Dong-gun's cafe continued on social media, causing controversy.
Lee Dong-gun married Jo Yoon-hee in 2017 and had a daughter, but they divorced in 2020 after three years.
