A trickster turned his garden shed into a top-rated restaurant by submitting fake reviews on TripAdvisor.

Vice magazine writer Oobah Butler set up a website with photos of food, which were actually made from shaving cream and bleach.

One photo of the restaurant’s ‘food’ was really a close up of an egg on his foot.

The Shed, in Dulwich, promised to serve meals based on moods.

A description on the Shed’s website described it as: "An appointment-only restaurant located in South London, The Shed has been operating privately for years.

"In 2017, it decided to open its doors. As of November that year, it was TripAdvisor's top-rated restaurant in London."

Food fans, including the Observer’s restaurant critic Jay Rayner, were fooled by the hoax.

Mr Rayner said: "At last: a restaurant that recognises food is all about mood.

"Of all the shed-based eating experiences out there this one sounds like the best.

"Or at least second best. (I have my own shed, hence). Personally I'm keen to try 'contemplation'."

Mr Butler said his success was down to him making his shed seem exclusive.

In his piece for Vice, he wrote: "I realise what it is: the appointments, lack of address and general exclusivity of this place is so alluring that people can't see sense.

"They're looking at photos of the sole of my foot, drooling. Over the coming months, The Shed's phone rings incessantly."

Once Mr Butler’s restaurant made it to number one, he held a special event where he served guests ready meals from a discount supermarket.

Mr Butler wrote: "So there we go: I invited people into a hastily-assembled collection of chairs outside my shed, and they left thinking it really could be the best restaurant in London, just on the basis of a TripAdvisor rating."

TripAdvisor said in a statement: "Generally, the only people who create fake restaurant listings are journalists in misguided attempts to test us.

"As there is no incentive for anyone in the real world to create a fake restaurant it is not a problem we experience with our regular community, therefore this 'test' is not a real world example."