How It Got Started
Fix Dessert Chocolatier first created Dubai chocolate sometime around 2021 or 2022. We imagine the chocolate was created before then, but Fix's Instagram account only goes back that far. By the end of 2023, the sweet sensation caught wind. The rest is history.In an Instagram video back in January, Fix's co-owner Sarah shared how her platform on TikTok launched her small chocolate business into stardom:
"Did I think we were going to be here today talking about the viral Dubai chocolate? Probably not. As a small business, TikTok helped me reach many people around the world. This was the moment we realized, you know, we went viral. And all of a sudden, you were going from three orders per week to hundreds and hundreds of orders per second."
The video she references is from TikTok creator @mariavehera257, who many credit as the patient zero of the chocolate's viral videos. In the ASMR-style video, Maria is seen chowing down on the pistachio-filled Fix chocolate bar. It was posted on December 12, 2023. As of today, it has nearly 124 million views.
What is Dubai Chocolate
The signature ingredients of the milk chocolate bar are the kataifi and pistachio cream filling. Kataifi is a crunchy, sweet spun pastry that is stringy and crunchy. It's also informally known as shredded phyllo dough. Fix Chocolate's has tahini paste in it, but re-creations omit it with similar results.Over the last year and a half, many have been capitalizing on this sweet's fame. Influencers have tried making it at home, and others have discovered local shops that replicate the recipe, like Dallas' Dude, Sweet Chocolate.
How to Get Dubai Chocolate
The only way to get the original chocolate bar is on Deliveroo in Dubai or Abu Dhabi. There is no website, no physical store, no authorized resellers or sales through social media, which is why so many people are creating it themselves or looking for local versions. Mouth Attack, an Instagram food news platform, spilled that even Crumbl is in the process of creating a Dubai chocolate brownie. Crumbl hasn't made an official statement themselves, but we wouldn't be shocked to find this on one of their upcoming menus.
Shake Shack sells a Dubai chocolate shake in certain states (not Texas). Aldi's sells Dubai chocolate ice cream. Now, world-famous Swiss chocolatier Läderach has introduced Dubai chocolate, and lucky for us, they have two Dallas stores.
Availability depends on the store's location, as many people have been posting about Läderach's Dubai chocolate for months, but it has been rolling out to new stores for some time.
Läderach has plenty of other chocolates to try in addition to the viral Dubai chocolate.
Aaren Prody
On Sunday, just after they'd sold out, we were instructed to try again on Wednesday when a new shipment should arrive. So, we came back bright and early Wednesday morning and here are some things to know before you go:
• Shipments don't arrive until around noon on Wednesday, and are put out later. When we tried to go a little after opening, the Dubai chocolate hadn't arrived yet. So get there later in the day. Evidently, they also receive shipments on Friday or Saturdays.
• Corporate sets orders. This week, they only received one case of the Dubai chocolate, which is about the same size as the stack of slabs in the photo above. The worker we spoke with was shocked by that, and they don't have any control over what they receive.
• They've been selling out within a day with each new shipment. They told us the one case they received on Wednesday would be sold out by the end of the day, at the latest, Thursday morning.
I hadn't tried the Dubai chocolate before this, so the Läderach version was my first impression.
As viral as it is, I wasn't blown away. I found it difficult to taste the pistachio filling because the milk chocolate is so sweet and prominent. The original bar has almost half an inch of filling, resulting in a huge crunch factor and more filling than actual chocolate.
Läderach's version is the opposite. The chocolate and filling are about the same, so it's not the same experience (that I think led to the original's virality in the first place). It's still good, but didn't have that wow factor I expected.
The Dubai chocolate at Laderach is $58 a pound. The three pieces we got (shown in photo at top) were a little more than half of a pound and cost $35.
Läderach, 8687 N. Central Expressway (NorthPark), Monday - Sunday, 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Läderach, 2601 Preston Road (Stonebriar Center), Monday - Sunday, 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.
