Reservation Site for Chef Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck Pop-Up Jammed Within 20 Minutes

Australians really want to dine at chef Heston Blumenthal's upcoming Fat Duck pop-up in Melbourne. The chef's famed Bray, England restaurant will set up shop down under next year between February 3 and August 15. The reservation line — which is an online ballot system — opened yesterday and Good Food AU writes that pop-up hopefuls managed to jam the site within 20 minutes, once it was properly up and running.

Apparently thousands of people attempt to access the site at 9 a.m., but the clock on the website mistakenly had not taken into account daylight savings and was an hour behind. Once that was fixed, many could not access the ballot "due to the high usage on the site." The pop-up is offering places for 16,000 diners across its duration.

Even if a diner is one of the lucky 16,000 to receive a spot, they will then have to hand over $525 AUD ($475 USD) per person, and that does not cover the prices of beverages. Blumenthal defended the price tag last month noting that "picking up the entire kitchen and staff from the Fat Duck and relocating across the world" isn't exactly cheap. The reservations line will close October 26.