Trying Out The Dubai Chocolate Bar
Made popular last year by Tik Tok, it actually dates back a few years
The Detroit area abounds with coffee houses with roots in the Arab world. We can choose from shops owned by Lebanese, Syrian, and especially Yemeni proprietors. In the past year, these places have been touting a new feature: Dubai chocolate bars.
The treats combine dark chocolate, pistachio cream and kataifi, the crunchy shredded wheat type ingredient that’s found in numerous pastries. Dubai chocolate went viral during 2024 on Tik Tok, but the idea actually dates back about four years.
Dubai chocolate originated at Fix Dessert Chocolatier in Dubai, which was founded in 2021 by Sarah Hamouda, a British-Egyptian entrepreneur. She was inspired by her pregnancy cravings for knafeh, the multi-layered pastry usually filled with ashta cream and topped with kataifi.
She launched it with the phrase, "Can't Get Knafeh of It" and still uses the slogan.
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Last year, a Tik Tok user named (@) mariavehera257 posted a video of herself eating Fix chocolate. She wound up getting more than 64 million views and nearly 400,000 shares. The chocolate inspired a cottage industry, in which chocolatiers everywhere decided to copy Fix’s creation.
That includes coffee shops here in the Detroit area, where I first spotted the bar for sale. A medium sized Dubai chocolate bar costs about $10, and since it’s very rich, it can easily be shared by several people, accompanied by a beverage.
The chocolate bars for sale in my part of town aren’t as green inside as the one you see in the video. They emphasize the dark chocolate, enhanced by a less vivid pistachio filling, and the crunch of the kataifi.
Lately, however Dubai Chocolate has become as much a flavor as a style of chocolate. Cafes around the Detroit area are selling Dubai dessert parfaits. They have a layer of kataifi on the bottom, chocolate mouse, pistachio mouse, and strawberries.
I’ve also found individual Dubai Chocolate truffles, and Dubai Chocolate covered strawberries.
If you’ve made chocolate at home, you might try concocting some Dubai Chocolate. Here’s a recipe from Not Quite Nigella. Here’s a cake version from The Hungry Bites and a tart from Serious Eats.
Since the flavor is spreading so quickly, I will not be surprised if we begin seeing Dubai Chocolate desserts in coffee chains, such as Dunkin, and at the South Korean dessert cafes like Tous Les Jours and Paris Baguette.
Let me know if you’ve tried it and whether you would recommend it.