• Lately, Dubai chocolate has captured the attention of dessert lovers around the world, becoming a real phenomenon on social networks.
• This chocolate, which conquered with its extravagant appearance and innovative ingredients, was created by a talented chocolatier in Dubai, based on unique combinations and surprising flavors.
The popularity of Dubai chocolate, also known as Dubai Pistachio Chocolate Bar, exploded after the culinary influencer Maria Vehera posted a clip on TikTok sharing his impressions of this chocolate.
His clip quickly amassed over 80 million views, propelling the chocolate into global attention. Hashtag #dubaichocolate has garnered more than 45.000 posts on Instagram, where users compete to show their own reviews or even try to recreate the dessert at home.
What makes this chocolate special is its unique combination of ingredients. It's a super-chunky milk chocolate bar filled with a mixture of crunchy knafeh (a traditional Arabic dessert made from shredded pie sheets), pistachio paste and tahini, offering an explosion of contrasting textures and flavors.
Its creamy pistachio-rich interior creates a special sensory experience, accentuated by the specific sounds when it is broken open to reveal its liquid filling. This perfect structure made it ideal for type videos ASMR ( Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response ) and be prepared by numerous users of social platforms.
The success story
Created by Sarah Hamouda, the founder of the brand Fix Dessert Chocolatier, this chocolate is not the only one in the range produced by the company. Enriched with unusual fillings such as filo pastry, vanilla cream or tea and biscuits, these thick chocolate bars were inspired by chocolatier's cravings during pregnancy.
The 38-year-old British-born entrepreneur, who has lived in Dubai for nine years, launched the brand in 2021 as a sideline, aiming to create something more than chocolate "typical". "We put a lot of time and effort, and a lot of love into our bars", says Sarah Hamouda, founder of Fix for CNN Travel . "It's not just a chocolate bar", she says: "We want to create an experience".
Since the popularity of the chocolate it produces has exploded globally, the company has expanded from Sarah Hamouda and her husband working in their own home to a team of 10 working in a rented lab. And because the chocolate bars are handmade – including colorful designs painted on each one – there's a limit to how much the team can produce.
"For me, it is very important to maintain the quality of our products", Sarah points out in the interview with CNN Travel, adding that the secret of her tablets is the mold "signature" which he uses to shape the chocolate and insert the filling.
Special flavors and limitless creativity
Much of the charm of Fix chocolate bars lies in the creative names, puns invented by the chocolatier's husband. Names such as "You Karak Me Up", "Butter To Be Safe Than Salty", "Can't Get Knafeh of It" arouse the interest of the consumer. And to these are added Middle Eastern flavors such as dates, karak (a spiced tea blend) and knafeh, the traditional Arabic dessert made from shortcrust pastry, pistachios, sweet cheese and syrup.
Incidentally, Dubai's international population of expats has also inspired some of the flavors, such as "Mind your own Buiscoff", a white chocolate bar filled with crunchy Lotus cream cheese, or "Cereously Chewsy", a piece of milk chocolate filled with Nutella fudge cake, cream and cereal.
Chocolate produced by Fix Dessert Chocolatier it is so desirable that it is becoming hard to find even in Dubai, being only available via online delivery at certain times. The price of a 200-gram tablet is around AED 68 (about $18), but in other parts of the world, such as Singapore, the price can reach as high as $60 per tablet due to huge demand and limited access.
Viralization of products on Social Media
Chocolate from Dubai is a clear example of the power that Social Media can have on the success of a product. The virality of a product is the result of a combination of attractive visuals, sensory experiences and recommendations from trusted influencers.
Platforms like TikTok and Instagram allow products to reach millions of people quickly, even when they are only available in a certain region. Also, the phenomenon of viralization of food products offers the opportunity for many small brands to become known globally, even in front of some giants of the food industry. The success of Dubai Chocolate demonstrates how powerful digital influence can be in shaping food preferences and trends globally.
Article and photo sources: Pistachio Chocolate Bar (Dubai Chocolate Bar); fixdessertchocolates.com; Meet the woman behind Dubai's viral super-chunky chocolate bar.
Article written by Gabriela Dan, Editor-in-Chief Arta Albă
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