London, Dec 7 (AFP) A non-existent restaurant supposedlybased in a garden shed briefly became London's top eatingplace on travel and restaurant website TripAdvisor, who todayhit back at the hoaxers.
"The Shed at Dulwich", based in a south London backgarden, offered invited guests conceptual dishes named aftermoods, including "Lust - rabbit kidneys on toast", "Empathetic- vegan clams in a clear broth" and "Contemplation - adeconstructed Aberdeen stew".
The menu was accompanied by mouth-watering photographs ofthe dishes, which in reality were comprised of bleach tablets,shaving foam, gloss paint and even a fried egg rested againsta human foot.
"One day, sitting in the shed I live in, I had arevelation: within the current climate of misinformation...
maybe a fake restaurant is possible?" said Oobah Butler, whohas a history of pulling pranks for news and entertainmentwebsite vice.com.
"In that moment, it became my mission. With the help offake reviews, mystique and nonsense, I was going to do it:turn my shed into London's top-rated restaurant onTripAdvisor," he wrote.
Starting at 18,149, the worst restaurant in London, "TheShed" worked its way up the rankings thanks to fake reviewssent from different computers to avoid TripAdvisor's defences.
Under the heading "An unrivalled delight", one reviewerwrote: "Many restaurants get it wrong nowadays by trying toset too much of a mood. Here you order the mood and the moodis always right".
Another reviewer said: "As the sun was setting we wereoffered blankets -- we politely declined (one had a stain on)but a nice touch, adds to the al fresco feel!"The restaurant was soon inundated with booking demands,PR offers and media requests, shooting its rating to thenumber one spot in London just six months after its initiallisting.
Bowing to popular demand, the restaurant eventuallyopened its doors, with diners treated to ready meals frombudget supermarket Iceland.
TripAdvisor responded in a statement Thursday, saying:"Generally, the only people who create fake restaurantlistings are journalists in misguided attempts to test us.
"Most fraudsters are only interested in trying tomanipulate the rankings of real businesses -- so naturallythat is what our content specialists are focused on catching.
"As there is no incentive for anyone in the real world tocreate a fake restaurant it is not a problem we experiencewith our regular community -- therefore this 'test' is not areal world example," it said. (AFP)NSA.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.