Youtuber Stanley Chen fooled hundreds of foodies to queue for hours outside a five-star ramen restaurant in Sydney's Surry Hills. There was just one problem...
- Diners tricked at 'five-star' restaurant
- Social experiment praised online
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Hundreds of foodies and influencers who lined up for hours to experience a five-star ramen noodle restaurant's 'unique' food soon discovered the whole enterprise was fake.
Youtuber Stanley Chen, 23, from Sydney, set up the experiment after a bad experience he had doing social media for a restaurant that claimed its food was fresh but was instead made a week earlier.
Mr Chen told Daily Mail Australia when he asked to film the chef preparing the dishes, he was told the meals that cost $30-$40 weren't even made on site.
'I get if it was somewhere like Maccas - you get what you pay for,' he said.
'But when it is $30- $40 a plate, it is pretty much a scam.
'I wanted to see if I can replicate that and make it sound fancy, posh and bougie.
'And make the point that this is ridiculous.'
Mr Chen said although similar experiment had been tried before, he wanted to put his own 'spin' on it with instant ramen noodles.
Sydney Youtuber Stanley Chen, 23, (pictured) said he wanted to make a point to people that restaurants can trick them into thinking they are eating fresh food with clever marketing and 'fancy' social media posts
The Youtuber decided to market a fake ramen noodle restaurant and had seven days to make it a reality. The fake restaurant had people queuing around the block (pictured)
The Youtuber gave himself just seven days to create the restaurant from scratch in a man's living room in Surry Hills, Sydney.
Mr Chen created high-end looking photos of instant noodles in his backyard before making a website and naming the noodle restaurant Nise Janagaru Ramen.
He pointed out that 'Nise' is the Japanese word for fake, and Janagaru is a well known restaurant in Japan.
The Youtuber then sent out emails to influencers inviting them to the restaurant to try the dishes for free.
'I just sent a bunch of emails off to food influencers saying that we're this bold, really fancy restaurant that obviously no-one has ever heard of,' he said in the video about the experiment.
'So we’re about to find out whether food influencers will post about a restaurant that doesn’t exist.'
But once Mr Chen made Tiktok videos about the exclusive restaurant's food, influencers started contacting him for reservations.
'I have 500K (followers) - is that enough?' one influencer said.
On the day of opening, the Youtuber was rushing to set up the fake restaurant and confirmed 10 influencers would be dining.
Foodies and influencers were told the 'home-cooked' meal they were served was based upon their aura - but diners were given the exact same instant ramen noodles (pictured, the ramen brand and flavour people were served)
Many 'customers' had been waiting hours before the restaurant opened, with the line wrapped around the corner.
'There was about 100 people - the line went around the corner plus we had 30 people inside,' Mr Chen said.
The Youtuber told the excited foodies that the restaurant had 'seven years of history' and that it was 'actually my grandpa's' before serving the noodles in white pot plants.
The Youtuber's friends took on the roles of waiters and 'chefs' and he explained to them on the video what to tell guests.
'We're a bold experimental ramen restaurant and we don't serve a traditional menu,' Mr Chen said.
'It's all omakase, and we determine what you eat based on your aura.'
One of his friends asked: 'Is everyone eating the same thing?'
Mr Chen replied: 'Yeah, everyone's eating the same thing' - making his 'staff' erupt in laughter.
'We were trying to find an excuse and coming up with ways for explaining why we didn't have a menu,' he said.
The Youtuber (pictured, right) said the fake restaurant had a 'great atmosphere' after he set it up in a friend's loungeroom in Surry Hills, Sydney
'We were going to judge people based on Japanese Gods but it became too hard to remember.'
After someone came up with the idea of 'spicy and earthy auras', the fake restaurant committed to it.
'Almost everyone we told about auras (dictating their meal) thought it was quite serious,' he said.
'There was a group of three or four guys up the back who were laughing so I think they were a bit suspicious of everything, but they played along.
'Everyone else bought it.'
Mr Chen told one man that his earrings 'gave us the Italian vibe', so his dish was made creamier.
But one of the waiters decided to be even cheekier.
'Two at the back - bad aura. So I'm doing one portion, two bowls,' he said.
Apart from one hiccup where a guest had an allergy to eggs and couldn't consume the noodles, the crew successfully pulled off their stunt.
'It was a great atmosphere. People were saying "Wow, this is so fancy" and "What a cool experience",' he said.
'We had some people dining on a couch and it was very laid back. A DJ was playing nature sounds, so there were birds chirping and we projected scenes of nature.
The foodies and influencers (pictured) appeared to be fooled by the fake restaurant that served instant noodles out of gardening pots. Waiters told diners their dish would be based on their aura
'It was quite a fun experience.'
Some of the diners who were interviewed after their meal heaped praise upon the dish.
'Chef needs to make me another bowl,' one said.
'He said mine was a bit creamier and it works well, like Japanese Italian,' another said.
'It's got a different kick to it. This one, you can tell its unique,' one man said before adding he would have paid $70-$80 for the dish.
Mr Chen explained that diners never paid a cent for a very good reason.
'I am a couple of grand out of pocket, but it was free so when people found out it wasn't real, they didn't feel cheated.'
Responses online applauded Mr Chen for his hilarious 'social experiment'.
'This teaches everyone a valuable lesson - marketing,' one wrote.
And one of the foodies on the night admitted to being fooled: 'I am in the video and when I got told it’s based on our 'aura' I laughed at the server - didn’t realise it was instant ramen though.'
