Why are TikToks about eating out so boring? Dillon Davis and Nichols Neff had been debating the query from their sofa of their shared Manhattan condo late final yr, as they watched one video after one other of influencers visiting the similar handful of upscale eating places.
Neither one had any expertise making social media content material. But between the two of them, they’d an thought.
“I feel like it’d be cooler to do something more about the hole-in-the-wall restaurants and restaurants that maybe don’t get as much publicity on TikTok,” Neff remembered telling Davis.
Davis, in flip, mentioned he’d been wanting for some time to attempt meals from each nation in the world. What if it may very well be completed without leaving New York City?
The duo discovered a digital on-line wheel that would decide a rustic at random and turned on a digital camera to report their first spin. It landed on Armenia. A cursory Google Maps search turned up just one Armenian eatery: Little Armenia Cafe in Greenpoint, Brooklyn (in actuality, the metropolis has a minimum of one different, referred to as Sevan, in Bayside, Queens).
When Davis and Neff walked in, they instructed Little Armenia Cafe’s chef and proprietor Ararat El-Rawi that they needed the most genuine Armenian expertise he may provide them. They recorded themselves working their approach by means of seven dishes together with tabbouli salad and spinach pie — and greater than that many glasses of Armenian wine — as El-Rawi ultimately pulled up a seat to share a bottle.
In the ensuing video, the two captured themselves getting emotional about their newfound pal and the mingling of cultures. “This is why we play,” a delightfully inebriated Davis mentioned. “This is why we play,” Neff echoed.
They posted it on November 20, 2025, beneath the title of the Taste Buds. The mixture of the idea, their friendship and their infectious enthusiasm turned out to be instantly irresistible, catapulting them to area of interest TikTok stardom. The two, each 27, have since moved to separate flats. But they’ve stored sampling the world’s cuisines and posting a brand new video every week: mantu at the Afghan restaurant Ariana, tavë kosi at the Albanian restaurant Çka Ka Qëllu, hilib ari at the Somali restaurant Safari, oxtail at the Antiguan restaurant Wadadli.
A group of greater than 400,000 viewers has made them appointment viewing on TikTok, awaiting every installment like a brand new episode of a TV collection. “Every Thursday I do a double at my job and when I go on break you guys are always the first video on my feed,” one consumer commented not too long ago. “Thanks for spending Thursdays with me boys.”
“Everyone quiet my show is on,” wrote one other.
Taste Buds episodes are unpolished by the requirements of food-influencer TikTok, the place creators promote gimmicky dishes at impossible-to-book eating places, usually in change without spending a dime meals or outright fee.
The opening frames at all times characteristic Davis and Neff as crudely drawn stick figures like one thing out of Microsoft Paint. The modifying is usually uneven, and there are no ring lights in sight. The creators’ names aren’t even specified anyplace on their web page — most of their followers know them as Tall Guy and Hat Guy.
“The rough-around-the-edges part about it is what people like a little bit too,” Davis mentioned. “It’s not perfectly put together. It’s not super high production quality. It’s just two friends going to dinner and posting about their experience and talking to people.”
The ribbing and banter between them could make them seem like lifelong pals, however Davis and Neff solely turned buddies by means of a mutual pal after they moved to New York a few yr in the past.
Davis grew up in a small city in West Texas, dreaming of sometime transferring to the multicultural metropolis of New York. Neff grew up in Denver — his uncle and his grandfather, a Salvadoran immigrant, had been each restaurant house owners, instilling in him a particular appreciation for the enterprise. Both of them share a need for brand new experiences and a willingness to attempt something.
The Taste Buds each have day jobs — Davis in consulting, and Neff in tech gross sales — however they put a number of time into researching eating places for the collection.
While choosing an Armenian or Bhutanese restaurant proved simple, given the restricted choices, different cuisines pose extra daunting challenges. When their random nation generator landed on South Korea, they discovered lots of of institutions to select from, in the end deciding on Ssam Tong BBQ, which opened about 10 years in the past in Flushing, Queens. The proprietor, who didn’t wish to seem on digital camera, might be heard in the background of the Taste Buds’ video serving to them select what to order and which meats to cook dinner on the grill. Davis and Neff loved so many glasses of soju at the restaurant that they stored the social gathering going at a Korean karaoke bar subsequent door.
Davis and Neff mentioned they pore over Reddit threads and Google Reviews for concepts on what eatery to go to for any given nation. “Somewhere that’s very authentic, has a good story to it, and feels like we can go sit down and enjoy the food, but also enjoy the experience in the community and the people as well,” Davis mentioned.
Their wheel hasn’t but landed on a rustic without a corresponding New York restaurant, however they’re ready if and when it does. They get a number of suggestions from their viewers now, and some folks have even supplied to host them at their properties for a meal. “I think we can get creative and make sure that we do that country right by the experience aspect, even if maybe there’s not a full sit-down restaurant or something,” Davis mentioned.
Crucially, they don’t see themselves as critics. Their aim is just to unfold the phrase about the metropolis’s breadth of cuisines and introduce folks to spots which may not have been on their radar. “Who are we to know what an 8/10 Indonesian dish is?” Davis mentioned. “It’s just fun to try and interesting.”
A number of weeks in the past, a pair approached the Taste Buds on the subway to announce that, guided by certainly one of their movies, they’d spent their Valentine’s Day at The Weekender, the Bhutanese restaurant the pals went to in Woodside, Queens.
“I think the main thing that makes us excited is people are going to the restaurants and trying new things and meeting people,” mentioned Davis.
Restaurants are infamous for yielding slim revenue margins, and small companies in the metropolis are particularly struggling. A go to from the Taste Buds can present a great addition.
El-Rawi, the proprietor of Little Armenia Cafe, mentioned he’s seen enterprise decide up since Davis and Neff got here by. One lady hosted her birthday dinner at his restaurant after seeing it on Taste Buds; she’s since been again twice. People’s orders are one other trace: “We’re selling more lamb burgers, I’ll tell you that,” he mentioned.
The thought for Taste Buds was partially impressed by a pal who discovered the best way to say “hello” and “thank you” in each language. Davis mentioned this pal would get away the phrases at any time when they traveled collectively or met somebody from that nation, and he observed folks appeared genuinely touched by the gesture.
“It doesn’t take that much effort,” he mentioned. “It just takes being honest and earnest, asking a few questions and making an effort to connect with someone to make their day better.”
Davis and Neff carry that spirit of curiosity into their conversations with restaurant house owners and workers. When they go to an eatery, they sometimes inform their server that their aim is to study as a lot about the nation of origin’s meals and tradition as potential. “So far, everyone’s been super excited about that, just the ability to share their story and their country and where they’re from,” Davis mentioned.
Touria Lamtahaf opened the Moroccan restaurant Dar Lbahja in Astoria, Queens, a few yr in the past — born and raised in Marrakech, she discovered that there have been few locations the place she may get correct Moroccan cooking in New York and lastly fulfilled her longheld dream of opening up her personal place. She runs the restaurant together with her sister Meriem Lamtahaf, who’s the supervisor.
The sisters mentioned they weren’t conversant in the Taste Buds when Davis and Neff visited, however they introduced out the Moroccan specialties they normally advocate to newcomers: kofta cigars, which are basically floor beef spring rolls; the rooster bastilla, a savory-sweet pie topped with powdered sugar and cinnamon; and the lamb and prune tagine, a conventional slow-cooked stew. They discovered Davis and Neff simple to speak to — the pair appeared genuinely concerned about their story and made a concerted effort to learn to say “thank you” and “goodbye” in Moroccan Arabic (shukran and b’slama). “They came in, they enjoyed every bite they had,” Meriem mentioned. “After they left, it felt like they were part of the family, to be honest.”
Meriem invited Davis and Neff again to Dar Lbahja to cheer for Morocco in the African Cup of Nations. Other visits have resulted in related invites — not too long ago, they returned to the Antiguan restaurant Wadadli to rejoice the institution’s four-year anniversary.
In some instances, restaurant visits have changed into real friendships. At the Bhutanese restaurant The Weekender, proprietor Kinley Dorji appeared to take to them instantly. “In my previous life, I must have met you guys,” he said. “Or we must have been a family or brothers.” He taught Davis and Neff to play snooker and invited them to the restaurant’s New Year’s social gathering, the place the duo rang in 2026 together with his pals and household. Recently, Dorji and the Taste Buds met up once more in Brooklyn for a day of basketball, pizza and pool, as captured on a second account referred to as @behindthebuds.
“It’s been pretty amazing, just the friendships we’ve built just off of very simple questions and showing interest,” Neff mentioned.
The Taste Buds are quickly increasing — T-shirts and hats with their signature stick determine drawings are on the market on their web site — and model offers from big-name sponsors are coming in all the time. Though they aren’t closing the door but, Davis mentioned they’ve mentioned no to just about each provide to this point: “We’ve tried our best to keep things about the restaurant, about the experience, about people and being authentic to ourselves.”
One exception: An invitation from the Brooklyn Nets to observe a sport from a set at Barclays Center. Davis and Neff agreed, but additionally prolonged the invite to all the restaurant house owners featured of their collection so far. They additionally scheduled it for Monday, after they knew lots of the eating places could be closed. The meetup was captured in the Taste Buds’ “Season 1 finale.”
El-Rawi, the Armenian restaurant proprietor, mentioned the Nets sport was his first at Barclays. He was glad, he mentioned, to fulfill new individuals who may relate to the challenges he’s navigating as a restaurant proprietor.
“We got to really discuss the ins and the outs of the business a little bit with each other and people that get it,” he mentioned. “It’s tough in the restaurant business right now.”
Davis and Neff, he added, are “as true as they come off.”
Their followers appear to assume so, too. “Boys. I mean this from the bottom of my heart. Thank you,” one consumer commented on a current video. “In a world filled with such darkness right now, you two and the friends you’ve made so far on this journey have been an incredibly bright light. Never stop being you.”
As the Taste Buds see it although, what they’re doing isn’t that radical in any respect: “We’re just breaking barriers,” Davis mentioned. “Talking with people, having a good time, realizing that we’re all more similar than we are different.”