美国国家公共电台 NPR Opening The Hottest Fake Restaurant In Town

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

The Shed at Dulwich was the hottest new restaurant in London for about six months. It had entrees¹ named after moods, like lust² and contemplation, pick-your-own chickens, wine served in kitschy coffee mugs. And boy, was it exclusive. When prospective⁴ diners called to make reservations at The Shed, they were told the restaurant was booked for weeks.

But The Shed was a ruse⁵, a fake restaurant with fake reviews designed to trip up TripAdvisor.

Oobah Butler is the culinary con³ artist behind it. He's a freelance writer for Vice⁶ UK. He joins us from our studios in London. Thanks so much for being with us.

OOBAH BUTLER: Thank you for having me.

SIMON: How do you create this restaurant that was just a figment of your imagination?

BUTLER: The things that you need - I mean, quite literally⁷, to get a restaurant verified on TripAdvisor, one needs a phone, an address and a website. I just bought a cheap phone from the supermarket. I made a website. I bought www.theshedatdulwich.com. I just put the name of my road and described that The Shed at Dulwich would be an appointment-only restaurant so nobody showed up out of nowhere. And I submitted it like that. And after three weeks - wham, bam, thank you, ma'am - it was on TripAdvisor.

SIMON: There were pictures on your website, which looked kind of convincing.

BUTLER: I'm no gourmet⁸ chef because - I mean, they look delicious, those photos - but they're actually all poison (laughter).

SIMON: Like, what were the entrees?

BUTLER: So I made dishes that were, like, things like scallops and ham hock and things like that. But I made them out of things like urnial cakes and food dye and marbles and things. And one of them is quite literally - you think it's a ham hock - like put, like, an egg on a piece of ham...

SIMON: Yeah.

BUTLER: And it's actually my foot underneath⁹ that (laughter).

SIMON: Well, why was it important to you to, if you please, trip up TripAdvisor?

BUTLER: It was more just about - I loved the idea of people lusting¹⁰ after a non-existent space. And I mean, I must say, my first writing job - I mean, I used to work in factories and as a waiter and stuff like that. But my first writing job was on a freelance website, writing fake reviews on TripAdvisor for restaurants who want to go up the rankings.

SIMON: Wait - but you did have to follow through - or felt obliged to follow through for at least one night - didn't you?

BUTLER: You're right, yeah. So basically, what kind of happened was, as we were rising up the ranks, it kind of started to get a bit out of hand. We had people applying for jobs at my non-existent restaurant. We had PR companies trying to represent my non-existent restaurant. I had suppliers really - begging us to stock their food at my non-existent restaurant.

At that point, I decided¹¹, I'm done with letting people down - answering call after call after call telling people - lying to them telling that we are fully¹² booked. I'm done with that. I'm going to open this place for one night only.

SIMON: Yeah. And you served macaroni and cheese, I gather.

BUTLER: Yeah. We served ready meals, which were, like, I guess, it'd like a 60-cent microwavable meal. And we dressed it up like it was fancy food. But I had people in the restaurant who were actors pretending that they're having an amazing time as well.

SIMON: (Laughter).

BUTLER: I wanted to recreate that same psychological space as TripAdvisor - you know, the whole thing of like - if enough people around you saying, this is delicious, will you go, yeah, it's delicious, I guess - maybe? I was really nervous about the way that they'd react. And when they left, they loved it.

SIMON: Oobah Butler is a freelance writer for Vice UK and was proprietor¹³ for (laughter) a sort of restaurant called The Shed at Dulwich - right?

BUTLER: Yeah, that's it.

SIMON: Thank you for being with us, sir.

BUTLER: Thank you so much.

(SOUNDBITE OF SEMISONIC SONG, "CLOSING TIME")

1 entrees   

n.入场权( entree的名词复数 )；主菜

参考例句：

• Can I also take you order for your entrees now? 现在要不要也点主菜？ 来自互联网
• Before the entrees are served, the waiter first serves four cold dishes. 在正菜上桌之前，服务员先上了四个凉碟。 来自互联网

2 lust   

n.性(淫)欲；渴(欲)望；vi.对…有强烈的欲望

参考例句：

• He was filled with lust for power.他内心充满了对权力的渴望。
• Sensing the explorer's lust for gold, the chief wisely presented gold ornaments as gifts.酋长觉察出探险者们垂涎黄金的欲念，就聪明地把金饰品作为礼物赠送给他们。

3 con   

n.反对的观点，反对者，反对票，肺病；vt.精读，学习，默记；adv.反对地，从反面；adj.欺诈的

参考例句：

• We must be fair and consider the reason pro and con.我们必须公平考虑赞成和反对的理由。
• The motion is adopted non con.因无人投反对票，协议被通过。

4 prospective   

adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的

参考例句：

• The story should act as a warning to other prospective buyers.这篇报道应该对其他潜在的购买者起到警示作用。
• They have all these great activities for prospective freshmen.这会举办各种各样的活动来招待未来的新人。

5 ruse   

n.诡计，计策；诡计

参考例句：

• The children thought of a clever ruse to get their mother to leave the house so they could get ready for her surprise.孩子们想出一个聪明的办法使妈妈离家，以便他们能准备给她一个惊喜。It is now clear that this was a ruse to divide them.现在已清楚这是一个离间他们的诡计。

6 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

7 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

8 gourmet   

n.食物品尝家；adj.出于美食家之手的

参考例句：

• What does a gourmet writer do? 美食评论家做什么？
• A gourmet like him always eats in expensive restaurants.像他这样的美食家总是到豪华的餐馆用餐。

9 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

10 lusting   

贪求（lust的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• Is your husband lusting after the au pair? 你的丈夫是否正对来家打工的留学女生暗送秋波？
• He is lusting after you. 他在追求你。

11 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

12 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

13 proprietor   

n.所有人；业主；经营者

参考例句：

• The proprietor was an old acquaintance of his.业主是他的一位旧相识。
• The proprietor of the corner grocery was a strange thing in my life.拐角杂货店店主是我生活中的一个怪物。