Cabagges World's Favorite New York City Restaurants
- Cabagges World duo, Kevin Serai and Anna Archibald, built a 2M-follower empire on Japanese-Hawaiian comfort food and nostalgia. Now they're dropping their 'expert' NYC restaurant picks — because who needs a culinary degree when you have an engagement algorithm?
- The pair hail from Oahu, met in NYC, and bonded over 'mom-and-pop takeout' — proving the American Dream is alive, well, and heavily filtered on TikTok.
- Their global eating tour includes Mexico City, Singapore, and Taipei, yet they still crown NYC as the dinner king and L.A. as lunch's side piece. Bold claims, considering New York's famously exorbitant dinner tabs.
- The interview is 'edited and condensed' — which is news-speak for 'we chopped out all the boring parts where they admitted the rent for their restaurant-equivalent careers is two decades of student loans.'
- Expect a flood of 'where-to-eat' envy from out-of-towners who will never snag a reservation at these spots and will settle for watching the pair chew on their phone screens.
Brief Summary
In a stunning display of influencer omnipotence, The New York Times has given Cabagges World's Kevin Serai and Anna Archibald — a duo who turned Hawaiian nostalgia into a merch brand — a platform to pontificate on NYC's dining scene. With nearly two million followers, they've apparently earned the right to rank cities by meal time, deeming New York superior for dinner while tossing L.A. a pity crumb for lunch. The interview trots out their pilgrimage from Oahu to NYC, bonding over home cooking like it's a rom-com meet-cute, all while promoting their 'recipe, lifestyle and merchandise brand' with a name that's a typo on purpose.
Why This Matters
For the average fork-wielder, this is a grim reminder that restaurant recommendations are now gatekept by algorithm-anointed influencers hawking tote bags. If you're not already following a brand named after a misspelled vegetable, your dining choices are basically invalid. The real takeaway: Your favorite hole-in-the-wall is about to be overrun by crowds wielding phones, chasing the same five spots these two blessed, and you'll be left standing in line behind a livestream.