21-Year-Old Guy Goes Viral For Going To Michelin Star Restaurants And Pretending To Be A Food Critic

He must really be good at it because he did get away with it with so many perks!

Liezel

• Published in Interesting
• December 22, 2022

Michelin-star places are no joke. These places took years of preparation to get that much-coveted title.

And you'd know just by entering these places that these places would truly give you the experience of a lifetime. However, for most people, it can be intimidating to go here.

For one, there are the kinds of people dining in those kinds of places, and then, of course, you have high expectations about the place that will surely guide every single one of your actions there. But to 21-year-old TikTok user @slavinjoshua, none of those mattered when he decided to conduct his little experiment.

See, this dude went to one of these fancy Michelin-star restaurants and pretended to be a food critic just to see how the staff would treat him, and guess what? It was definitely an exciting thing to see.

Food critics are not necessarily easy to spot, especially the best ones, and apparently, Josh Slavin did such an excellent job that he came out of that place unscathed and showered with plenty of good stuff. A lot of people were also amused on TikTok, and since then, he has garnered millions of views.

Here's everything that went down with his little experiment.

Josh Slavin lived out the dream life for foodies out there

Josh Slavin loves sharing food and travel-related content on his social media channels. Most of the content he produces is food reviews.

While that has already earned him a good number of followers, it's this particular video of him where he pretended to be a food critic in a restaurant in Hong Kong that got him blowing up on TikTok. He didn't even do anything special.

All he had was a notebook and his guts.

Josh decided that he wanted to pretend to be a food critic at a fancy restaurant and see how they would react

A lot of people would be mortified by Josh's plan but that didn't matter to the man. He just went into that restaurant with a mission.

To get the staff's attention, Josh tried out different things

At the beginning of the dinner, Josh tried out a few things to try and act the part. While trying out the first few items, he started taking some pictures for one.

It was the notebook that really got the staff's attention

After a few minutes, Josh whipped out his notebook and pretended to be noting down a few things and acting all serious like what we imagine a food critic to act like. That's when the staff really took notice and proceeded to treat him like an actual food critic.

As Josh said, they've been watching him like hawks but he didn't let that stop him.

The notebook brought about a slight change in treatment

Josh only ordered two courses but he was surprised when a server brought over a dessert cart and offered some drinks as well. His email was also asked and he received a message from the restaurant's manager the next day.

Even the restaurant's manager made an appearance

Even the manager himself went up to Josh's table and gave him his personal cell phone number. He also told Josh to give him a call whenever he needed a reservation.

With all that happened, Josh considered his mission to have been a huge success.

In an interview, Josh revealed where the idea came from

Apparently, it all came from a Reddit post discussing the idea that if you eat alone in a restaurant and bring a notebook with you, the restaurant staff might think you are a food critic. And Josh thought it would be a great idea to try this out in reality.

However, Josh admitted that it wasn't the most comfortable thing to do

Josh revealed, however, that while it may seem like a really fun thing to do, he actually felt quite uncomfortable doing it.

“The biggest contrast I have noticed when filming these videos is that the restaurant staff tends to watch you more closely," he said. "This is not preferable, in my opinion. However, I must say, the service I received was spectacular, and everyone I’ve met at these restaurants has been very kind!”

Here's a peek at all those food critic things he was jotting down in his notebook, by the way.

Josh also admitted that he noticed some shifts when he started acting all serious like a food critic

When trying to answer the queries of whether restaurants treat suspected food critics better, Josh admitted that his own opinion might be flawed since he did come to that restaurant for the first time.

“I will say that I do notice some shifts when I take out my notebook after a couple of courses of dining normally," he admitted. "Therefore, one might argue that restaurants treat suspected critics better,"

He also shared an interesting fact that exclusive restaurants do research on their guests before their visit so that they could presumably provide a personalized treatment for each guest.

At one point, he was even recognized by staff but that won't stop Josh

In one of his TikTok videos, Josh revealed that he was actually recognized in one of his outings trying to do the same thing. The recognition made it hard for him to replicate such content, but he said it would not stop him from moving forward with the project.

“I don’t think it is very feasible for me to continue making these types of videos during my time in Hong Kong," he said. "However, I will definitely consider making more of these videos when I travel to new locations.”

Josh also said that his love for food is what gives him the determination to keep traveling and trying out new dishes.

"While I am not nearly as qualified as a bona fide, published food critic or a legitimate Michelin Inspector, I still enjoy sharing my thoughts on the food I try with my audience from my own personal perspective. This type of video allows me to showcase the interesting food and restaurants I try, but in a way that appeals to wider audiences. I always really enjoy getting to share some of the amazing places I try with my audiences and hopefully sending new traffic to these amazing establishments.” he said.

Watch the full video:

As it seems, many people have also loved Josh's ideas and the way he reviews the food places he goes to. His pretending to be a food critic video has already garnered more than eight million views.

Many people are also coming out and offering full support to Josh's project. And they're definitely excited as to what Josh comes up with next.

Watch the full video of his adventure below:

Here are also some of the top comments on his video:

He's not wrong

And to be fair, they treated him well

Josh is way ahead of the game

As they say, you got to start acting like one to be one

Hopefully, the manager took it lightheartedly

Kudos to Josh because what he did was actually brilliant plus, not everyone would have actually had the balls to do such kind of thing. He might've really had the chops to or was giving off the right vibe to have gotten their attention like that.

Who knows? Maybe a few years down the line, we'll see Josh as an actual food critic.

And to think that it all came from his silly scribbles in his notebook. We all hope the best for Josh!

Liezel