London. Home to over 8 million people. A hub of cultures colliding into a mishmash of food. Steaming fish and chips and spicy curry. Hot tea and sticky toffee pudding.

If a restaurant is ranked as being the best in London, it has to be good, right?

In April 2017, Oobah Butler, a writer for Vice who had previously been bribed by restaurants to give good reviews, set out to test the system, to prove a point.

He decided to fake an entire restaurant.

Named "The Shed at Dulwich,” after well, Butler’s own shed at Dulwich, he quickly begin to set up the fake dinner place.

A $13 burner phone was all he needed to verify it on Yelp.

He set up a website, completed with ever so very hipster mood inspired dishes and delicious photos of food.

Or, sort of food.

Initially, the restaurant was ranked #18,149. The worst in London. Butler contacted friends and asked them to write fake reviews, and within the first couple of weeks, he had broken 10,000.

Requests for reservations began to flood in. Butler responds by saying "Sorry, but we're fully booked for the next six weeks."

The Shed at Dulwich soars in the rankings, reaching #1,456.

By the end of August, it is in the top 200. Butler’s burner phone is ringing for reservations more and more.

Companies track the location and begin to mail free samples.

On November 1st, 2017, The Shed at Dulwich becomes London’s top rated restaurant, despite literally no one ever having dined there.