Dubai Chocolate

Dubai Chocolate is a chocolate bar originating from Dubai, the largest city in the United Arab Emirates, a Middle Eastern country. The distinctive feature of this chocolate is its green filling, primarily composed of Pistachio and Kadayif (shredded pastry dough), which provides a rich, nutty flavor and a crunchy texture, perfectly complementing the chocolate's unique sweet and bitter taste.

Pistachio : The Jewel of the Middle East

Pistachio is a type of nut believed to have originated in present-day Uzbekistan. There is evidence of its consumption by humans throughout the Middle East since 6,750 BCE. It spread globally from the 1st century CE via the Silk Road (a trade route connecting the East and West for over a thousand years, from 206 BCE to the 15th century). Today, it is native to Iran, Afghanistan, and Central Asia, with Iran being the largest cultivation area in the world.

Dubai : A Hub of Commerce and Culinary Culture

Dubai was founded approximately 300 years ago and rapidly flourished from a port city into a significant commercial, financial, and tourism hub in the Middle East. This has given the city a crucial role in importing and exporting various food ingredients, including pistachios. Dubai also hosts numerous large international trade and food festivals, including The Inaugural Dubai Food Festival in 2014, celebrating its status as the Culinary Capital of the Region. This prosperity has also exposed people in Dubai to a wide variety of cuisines, both international and Arab.

Middle Eastern sweets and pastries have held cultural, religious, and celebratory significance for over 700 years. One popular pastry dough used in baked goods is called Filo, a thin sheet of dough used for various pies and layered pastries. It is also used to make Kadayif, where the dough is shredded into fine strands, commonly baked or fried with butter until crispy, and used as a filling or layer in various desserts like tel kadayıf and Knafeh, also known as Kunafa.

Kunafa is another type of dessert where Kadayif is arranged into a continuous layer, filled with various ground nuts mixed with cream or cheese. After baking, it is often topped with pistachio powder. This dessert is sometimes confused with shredded filo dough, as in some countries, like Turkey, Knafeh is also referred to as Kadayif.

The Arrival of Chocolate in Dubai and Fix Dessert Chocolatier

Like other goods, cocoa and chocolate were introduced to Dubai when it began as a port city between the 19th and 20th centuries. Initially considered a high-class delicacy, it was only available in luxurious shops. With rapid economic growth, chocolate shops soon emerged, targeting the general public, both locals and expatriates. This led to the widespread popularity of chocolate and the creation of numerous chocolate-based dishes. Today, Dubai boasts a wealth of both industrial chocolate brands and Artisan chocolate shops, which emphasize craftsmanship and meticulous creation.

In 2021, an Artisan chocolate shop named Fix Dessert Chocolatier was founded by Sarah Hamouda, a British-Egyptian who had worked and lived in Dubai for nine years. Hamouda's initial intention was to create a small business with her husband as a side project while she was pregnant.

The main product of Fix is handmade filled chocolate bars, focusing on unique flavors inspired by her pregnancy cravings and love for chocolate. Hamouda offers both Western and Middle Eastern dessert flavors. Another significant feature of Fix chocolate bars is the colorful patterns on top of the chocolate shell, which Hamouda personally hand-paints on each piece.

Can't Get Knafeh of It: The Online Turning Point for Dubai Chocolate

Initially, the Fix brand was a small chocolate shop with only a few orders per day. However, in 2022, Hamouda created a new chocolate bar flavor called Can't Get Knafeh of It, playing on the words Knafeh and Enough. For this Knafeh-inspired filling, Hamouda blended ground pistachios with Tahini (a Middle Eastern sesame paste) to create a pistachio cream, then mixed in Kadayif. The outer shell of the chocolate bar uses milk chocolate, providing a sweet and creamy taste.

Since Fix had a limited promotion budget, they relied on online influencers to review their chocolate, particularly by filming themselves tasting it. This type of video has become popular recently. This marketing strategy proved more successful than anticipated when Maria Vehera, a famous influencer who reviews food in the UAE, posted an ASMR video on TikTok. The video featured her tasting three flavors of Fix chocolate bars: Mind Your Own Bisicoff, Crazy Over Caramel, and Can't Get Knafeh of It.

Can't Get Knafeh of It immediately garnered attention due to its unusual green filling, its seemingly rich appearance with a crunchy texture when chewed, and its combination of ingredients unfamiliar to people outside the Middle East. It was subsequently referred to as Dubai Chocolate. As of now, Vehera's video has reached 129 million views and 7 million likes. Following the video's popularity, other influencers and the general public began creating videos and ordering Dubai Chocolate from Fix, exceeding 500 orders per day.

The Global Challenge and Evolution of Dubai Chocolate

Despite the immense demand, Hamouda remains committed to handcrafted chocolate and maintaining quality. The original Fix Dubai Chocolate has become a rare commodity, leading to numerous imitations and unauthorized uses of the brand name. At one point, she had to issue a warning on the shop's social media. Nevertheless, many people have experimented with creating their own versions, and Hamouda expressed her delight in inspiring others to create new things. Fix itself has increased its staff to 10 people while maintaining its homemade production quality.

The popularity of Dubai Chocolate has also significantly boosted Dubai's pistachio trade and increased pistachio prices. As Dubai Chocolate has become a new "type" of widely recognized chocolate, large chocolate companies in the Western world have started producing similar-flavored chocolates using the trade name "Dubai Chocolate." This use of the name has caused issues in some countries because these chocolates are not actually produced in Dubai. For instance, in January 2025, the German brand Aldi was ordered by a court to cease using the name Alyan Dubai Handmade Chocolate due to misleading consumers into believing it was produced in Dubai, while it was, in fact, produced in Turkey.

However, the United Arab Emirates is not a party to The Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement (the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications), which protects the GI (Geographical Indications) system. Ultimately, the term Dubai Chocolate has become a generic trademark in the European market and most countries worldwide. Beyond large chocolate brands, Artisan Chocolate shops and dessert shops globally have adapted Dubai Chocolate into numerous products, such as beverages, ice cream, cakes, and macarons.