A viral video showing how a vlogger set up a fake restaurant serving instant ramen has taken the internet by storm. Picture: Pexels
A YouTuber was amazed after he set up a fake fine-dining experience as a joke and people came in numbers to taste the instant ramen noodles he was serving.
When Stanley Chen realised that his past kitchen experience could be the basis of a brilliant video idea, he gave himself a week to make it a reality.
Chen explained in his video online that he had once worked at a restaurant that marketed itself as selling fresh food only to find out that they had made the food a week prior, and it was frozen.
In any case, this sparked a cool idea in his brain to see if he could trick the public into believing that what they were eating was fresh five-star food when in fact, it was instant ramen noodles instead.
Chen had a foolproof plan to make the experiment happen.
The vlogger and his team clicked some food photos, used them to create a fake website about the “restaurant”, and also made a video about it, which later went viral on social media.
There was so much buzz about it that he decided to only issue invitations to influencers with over 100 000 followers.
In the Instagram video, Chen said nearly 100 strangers have spent over three hours lining up “just to try some instant ramen”.
He then explained that a few days ago, he had created a fake five-star ramen restaurant and called it Nise Ramen, which, when translated from Japanese, means Fake Ramen.
“We took some photos, set up a fake website, and made a TikTok video about Nise which went viral. It went so viral, that I started only letting in influencers who had over 100 000 followers. Everyone else would have to wait outside,” he said.
To make it even fancier, Chen said, they set up a projector to play scenes of nature, served instant ramen in plant plots, and even hired a DJ to play nature noises and called the experience, “Ramen forest”.
His video has garnered over two million views on Instagram.
Reacting to the video, a user wrote: “Bro could’ve made millions but decided to expose himself.”
Another shared: “Proof that marketing is never about the product, but how it makes you feel, that makes the money.”
“This is peak entertainment,” another comment read.
A fourth wrote, “This kinda reminds me of a fake luxury store in LA. Their shoes are like $30 (R500) but they sell them for like $400 (R7 500).”
Another shared, “This shows how brainwashed these young ones are. Believe everything they see on social media. This world is so doomed.”
A sixth added, “A proof that ‘fake it till you make it’ works.”
At the end of the video, Chen and his friends, who were part of the prank, asked the guests about their experience.
To their surprise, the customers were happy with the ramen, saying it tasted like home-cooked food, while others said they would return for more.
When asked how much they would pay for the meal, a customer estimated that the dish was worth $45-$50 (approximately R800 - R900).