Eating at every country in the world, without leaving New York City. Episode 1: Armenia \ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddf2 #nyc<\/a> #nycfood<\/a> #food<\/a> #armenia<\/a> <\/p>\n \u266c original sound – tastebuds_nyc<\/a> <\/p>\n \n In the resulting video<\/a>, the two captured themselves getting emotional about their newfound friend and the mingling of cultures. \u201cThis is why we play,\u201d a delightfully inebriated Davis said. \u201cThis is why we play,\u201d Neff echoed.\n <\/p>\n \n They posted it on November 20, 2025, under the name of the Taste Buds<\/a>. The combination of the concept, their friendship and their infectious enthusiasm turned out to be immediately irresistible, catapulting them to niche TikTok stardom. The two, both 27, have since moved to separate apartments. But they\u2019ve kept sampling the world\u2019s cuisines and posting a new video each week: mantu at the Afghan restaurant Ariana, tav\u00eb kosi at the Albanian restaurant \u00c7ka Ka Q\u00ebllu, hilib ari at the Somali restaurant Safari, oxtail at the Antiguan restaurant Wadadli.\n <\/p>\n \n A community of more than 400,000 viewers has made them appointment viewing on TikTok, awaiting each installment like a new episode of a TV series. \u201cEvery Thursday I do a double at my job and when I go on break you guys are always the first video on my feed,\u201d one user commented recently. \u201cThanks for spending Thursdays with me boys.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cEveryone quiet my show is on,\u201d wrote another.\n <\/p>\n \n Taste Buds episodes are unpolished by the standards of food-influencer TikTok, where creators promote gimmicky dishes at impossible-to-book restaurants, often in exchange for free meals or outright payment.\n <\/p>\n \n The opening frames always feature Davis and Neff as crudely drawn stick figures like something out of Microsoft Paint. The editing is sometimes choppy, and there are no ring lights in sight. The creators\u2019 names aren\u2019t even specified anywhere on their page \u2014 most of their followers know them as Tall Guy and Hat Guy.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe rough-around-the-edges part about it is what people like a little bit too,\u201d Davis said. \u201cIt\u2019s not perfectly put together. It\u2019s not super high production quality. It\u2019s just two friends going to dinner and posting about their experience and talking to people.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The ribbing and banter between them can make them look like lifelong friends, but Davis and Neff only became pals through a mutual friend when they moved to New York about a year ago.\n <\/p>\n \n Davis grew up in a small town in West Texas, dreaming of someday moving to the multicultural metropolis of New York. Neff grew up in Denver \u2014 his uncle and his grandfather, a Salvadoran immigrant, were both restaurant owners, instilling in him a special appreciation for the business. Both of them share a desire for new experiences and a willingness to try anything.\n <\/p>\n \n The Taste Buds both have day jobs \u2014 Davis in consulting, and Neff in tech sales \u2014 but they put a lot of time into researching restaurants for the series.\n <\/p>\n \n While selecting an Armenian or Bhutanese restaurant proved easy, given the limited options, other cuisines pose more daunting challenges. When their random country generator landed on South Korea, they found hundreds of establishments to choose from, ultimately settling on Ssam Tong BBQ, which opened about 10 years ago in Flushing, Queens. The owner, who did not want to appear on camera, can be heard in the background of the Taste Buds\u2019 video helping them choose what to order and which meats to cook on the grill. Davis and Neff enjoyed so many glasses of soju at the restaurant that they kept the party going at a Korean karaoke bar next door.\n <\/p>\n \n Davis and Neff said they pore over Reddit threads and Google Reviews for ideas on what eatery to visit for any given country. \u201cSomewhere that\u2019s 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,\u201d Davis said.\n <\/p>\n \n Their wheel hasn\u2019t yet landed on a country without a corresponding New York restaurant, but they\u2019re prepared if and when it does. They get a lot of recommendations from their audience now, and some people have even offered to host them at their homes for a meal. \u201cI think we can get creative and make sure that we do that country right by the experience aspect, even if maybe there\u2019s not a full sit-down restaurant or something,\u201d Davis said.\n <\/p>\n \n Crucially, they don\u2019t see themselves as critics. Their goal is simply to spread the word about the city\u2019s breadth of cuisines and introduce people to spots that might not have been on their radar. \u201cWho are we to know what an 8\/10 Indonesian dish is?\u201d Davis said. \u201cIt\u2019s just fun to try and interesting.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n A few weeks ago, a couple approached the Taste Buds on the subway to announce that, guided by one of their videos, they had spent their Valentine\u2019s Day at The Weekender, the Bhutanese restaurant the friends went to in Woodside, Queens.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI think the main thing that makes us excited is people are going to the restaurants and trying new things and meeting people,\u201d said Davis.\n <\/p>\n \n Restaurants are notorious for yielding slim profit margins, and small businesses in the city are especially struggling. A visit from the Taste Buds can provide a welcome boost.\n <\/p>\n \n El-Rawi, the owner of Little Armenia Cafe, said he\u2019s seen business pick up since Davis and Neff came by. One woman hosted her birthday dinner at his restaurant after seeing it on Taste Buds; she\u2019s since been back twice. People\u2019s orders are another hint: \u201cWe\u2019re selling more lamb burgers, I\u2019ll tell you that,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n \n The idea for Taste Buds was partially inspired by a friend who learned how to say \u201chello\u201d and \u201cthank you\u201d in every language. Davis said this friend would break out the phrases whenever they traveled together or met someone from that country, and he noticed people seemed genuinely touched by the gesture.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t take that much effort,\u201d he said. \u201cIt just takes being honest and earnest, asking a few questions and making an effort to connect with someone to make their day better.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Davis and Neff carry that spirit of curiosity into their conversations with restaurant owners and staff. When they visit an eatery, they typically tell their server that their goal is to learn as much about the country of origin\u2019s food and culture as possible. \u201cSo far, everyone\u2019s been super excited about that, just the ability to share their story and their country and where they\u2019re from,\u201d Davis said.\n <\/p>\n \n Touria Lamtahaf opened the Moroccan restaurant Dar Lbahja in Astoria, Queens, about a year ago \u2014 born and raised in Marrakech, she found that there were few places where she could get proper Moroccan cooking in New York and finally fulfilled her longheld dream of opening up her own place. She runs the restaurant with her sister Meriem Lamtahaf, who is the manager.\n <\/p>\n \n The sisters said they weren\u2019t familiar with the Taste Buds when Davis and Neff visited, but they brought out the Moroccan specialties they usually recommend to newcomers: kofta cigars, which are essentially ground beef spring rolls; the chicken bastilla, a savory-sweet pie topped with powdered sugar and cinnamon; and the lamb and prune tagine, a traditional slow-cooked stew. They found Davis and Neff easy to talk to \u2014 the pair seemed genuinely interested in their story and made a concerted effort to learn how to say \u201cthank you\u201d and \u201cgoodbye\u201d in Moroccan Arabic (shukran and b\u2019slama). \u201cThey came in, they enjoyed every bite they had,\u201d Meriem said. \u201cAfter they left, it felt like they were part of the family, to be honest.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Meriem invited Davis and Neff back to Dar Lbahja to cheer for Morocco in the African Cup of Nations. Other visits have resulted in similar invitations \u2014 recently, they returned to the Antiguan restaurant Wadadli to celebrate the establishment\u2019s four-year anniversary.\n <\/p>\n \n In some cases, restaurant visits have turned into genuine friendships. At the Bhutanese restaurant The Weekender, owner Kinley Dorji seemed to take to them immediately. \u201cIn my previous life, I must have met you guys,\u201d he said<\/a>. \u201cOr we must have been a family or brothers.\u201d He taught Davis and Neff to play snooker and invited them to the restaurant\u2019s New Year\u2019s party, where the duo rang in 2026 with his friends and family. Recently, Dorji and the Taste Buds met up again in Brooklyn for a day of basketball, pizza and pool, as captured on a second account called @behindthebuds.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt\u2019s been pretty amazing, just the friendships we\u2019ve built just off of very simple questions and showing interest,\u201d Neff said.\n <\/p>\n \n The Taste Buds are rapidly expanding \u2014 T-shirts and hats with their signature stick figure drawings are for sale on their website \u2014 and brand deals from big-name sponsors are coming in all the time. Though they aren\u2019t closing the door yet, Davis said they\u2019ve said no to nearly every offer so far: \u201cWe\u2019ve tried our best to keep things about the restaurant, about the experience, about people and being authentic to ourselves.\u201d\n <\/p>\n @tastebuds_nyc<\/a> <\/p>\n Trying food from every country in the world, without leaving New York City. Season 1 Finale \ud83c\udfc0 Thank you to the @Brooklyn Nets for hosting! Hats out now, link in bio #nyc<\/a> #food<\/a> <\/p>\n \u266c original sound – tastebuds_nyc<\/a> <\/p>\n \n One exception: An invitation from the Brooklyn Nets to watch a game from a suite at Barclays Center. Davis and Neff agreed, but also extended the invite to all the restaurant owners featured in their series thus far. They also scheduled it for Monday, when they knew many of the restaurants would be closed. The meetup was captured in the Taste Buds\u2019 \u201cSeason 1 finale.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n El-Rawi, the Armenian restaurant owner, said the Nets game was his first at Barclays. He was glad, he said, to meet new people who could relate to the challenges he\u2019s navigating as a restaurant owner.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe got to really discuss the ins and the outs of the business a little bit with each other and people that get it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s tough in the restaurant business right now.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Davis and Neff, he added, are \u201cas true as they come off.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Their followers seem to think so, too. \u201cBoys. I mean this from the bottom of my heart. Thank you,\u201d one user commented<\/a> on a recent video. \u201cIn a world filled with such darkness right now, you two and the friends you\u2019ve made so far on this journey have been an incredibly bright light. Never stop being you.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n As the Taste Buds see it though, what they\u2019re doing isn\u2019t that radical at all: \u201cWe\u2019re just breaking barriers,\u201d Davis said. \u201cTalking with people, having a good time, realizing that we\u2019re all more similar than we are different.\u201d\n <\/p>\n ![\"Beef](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/img-5165-20260417160101049.jpeg\")
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<\/p>\n![\"Neff](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/img-9421.jpeg\")
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<\/p>\n![\"Bastilla](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/img-5170.jpeg\")
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