Thread by @DavidZabinsky

It was November 1st, 2017, and the "The Shed at Dulwich" had just become the top rated restaurant in all of London.

The only problem?

The Shed at Dulwich ... DIDN'T EVEN EXIST.

Get ready for an absurd story you'll have to read to believe:

👇👇

It was 2017.

London-based author Oobah Butler took on the odd-job of writing fake food reviews on TripAdvisor.

Butler made $13 per pop, and as a result of his rave reviews, restaurants saw more business.

"Their fortunes would genuinely turn, and I was the catalyst," he wrote.

And one day, sitting in his shed, Butler realized:

If his BS reviews were such a hit, then maybe a BS restaurant would be, too.

So he decided:

"With the help of fake reviews, mystique, and nonsense, I was going to do it: turn my shed into London's top-rated restaurant."

The first step to opening a fake restaurant?

Get fake-verified.

Butler spent $13 (ironic, isn't it?) on this burner phone in order to prove to the powers that be (that is, TripAdvisor) that The Shed at Dulwich was indeed, a real restaurant with a real working number.

The second step?

A website and a menu.

But The Shed at Dulwich wouldn't just serve appetizers, main courses, and desserts, no.

They'd serve MOODS.

For example, LUST, which was rabbit kidneys...

Or LOVE, which was mac & cheese served in a "600TC Egyptian cotton bowl."

More examples of plates at The Shed at Dulwich?

Well, one could just check the website for their gallery.

Take, for example, this seemingly palatable dish of what appears to be some sort of cheese and tomato...

But looks can be deceiving.

Palatable, maybe not.

One more dish from The Shed for good fortune:

Parsley and egg sitting against, a, I don't know, piece of grilled fish or chicken, I think?

Think again.

For now, Butler had all the tangibles:

A phone number, a website, a menu, and fresh, natural ingredients (like Gillette shaving cream and a human foot).

The next step?

Get listed on TripAdvisor.

Butler sent in all the proof he had, and just like that, The Shed was listed.

At the start, without any ratings, "The Shed" was listed as #18,149 in London, so Butler would need a ton of reviews to help move the needle.

But these reviews...they had to be convincing and seemingly authentic as not to alert TripAdvisor's anti-scam technology, like this one:

As Butler's friends and colleagues began getting in on the joke by writing similar reviews, The Shed at Dulwich got into the top 10,000 restaurants in London.

Then, one day, for the very first time, Butler's $13 phone rang.

"Hello? Is this The Shed?"

From there, all hell broke loose.

Email inquiries, voice mails, text messages, you name it.

Folks wanted to eat at the hottest restaurant in town.

"PLEASE can you tell me the easiest way to get a booking with you?" one customer pleaded.

Wedding anniversaries, birthdays, even Christmas!

Trendy Londoners wanted to celebrate at The Shed.

But Butler ignored them all, and came to realize:

"The appointments, the lack of an address, and general exclusivity of this place are so alluring that people can’t see sense."

By August of 2017 - three months after listing on TripAdvisor - The Shed became the 156th rated restaurant in all of London.

And with that notoriety, came MORE interest.

Butler received packages of food samples from distributors, job inquiries, media requests, you name it.

And then, on November 1st, 2017, after continuing to ignore countless calls and emails, the impossible happened:

According to TripAdvisor, The Shed at Dulwich was the top-rated restaurant in all of London.

WITHOUT EVER SERVING A MEAL.

One weekend soon after, Butler left The Shed burner phone at home to see he had 116 missed calls from eager patrons.

Enough was enough.

Butler was to take it one step further:

Without ANY restaurant experience, he was going to open up what was deemed London's top restaurant.

For visuals?

Butler would fill half the tables with his friends and actors, who'd talk "loudly about how delicious everything is."

For the audio?

Butler would bring in a DJ "to play the sounds of a real restaurant on CDs."

For the food?

Well...

So here we are:

The Opening.

Butler's first guests are an American couple named Joel and Maria, who are escorted to The Shed blindfolded.

"I ask them to put on blindfolds, and they look terrified, but after the two actresses who’ve arrived at the same time agree, they nod."

Once Maria and Joel are seated?

Here comes the personal, five-star touch felt only at The Shed:

Butler begins:

"We serve moods here. I’ll interpret yours and bring a dish that suits. Maria, I get a homely energy from you. Joel? I’m feeling 'cool', right?"

As more and more guests filter in, The Shed's "chef" is busy at work grating packaged cheese on top of what was a box of frozen macaroni.

Butler writes:

"As per my request, the DJ triggers 'ding' sounds frequently to disguise the noise of our microwave."

Everything seems to be going smoothly, until one guest squeals.

It appears Butler had hired a man named Trevor to walk around The Shed with a live chicken.

But there's a method to the madness.

Butler explains:

"It’s pick your chicken! We cook the one you like the look of."

Whilst there was no slaughtering of chickens to take place at The Shed, one thing was for certain:

Guests were happy.

One local couple asks:

"Yeah, so about availability...now that we’ve been once, is that easier?"

"What?"

"Yeah, is it easier for us to book a table now?"

At the end of the night, the feedback was "roundly excellent" ... perhaps because everything was free.

Butler explained to the patrons that "the whole evening was free because 'we were documenting it for a TV show.'"

But perhaps, also because, folks really had a good time.

Two weeks later, The Shed was removed from TripAdvisor.

And whilst it may be difficult to ... digest what is such an improbable story, consider Butler's take:

"I like to be positive. If I can transform my garden into London’s best restaurant, literally anything is possible."

Learn something new today?

Follow @DavidZabinsky for more strange and compelling stories like this one.

For another insane prank that - on the surface - is truly well ... unbelievable, read about the time a Montreal-based radio DJ prank called the Queen of England in 1995:

For Butler's very own take and summary of what transpired between the magical months of May and November 2017 at The Shed, check out his personal account below.

Oh and BTW, the man, the myth, the legend that is Oobah Butler is on Twitter @Oobahs

vice.com/en/article/434…