The Best Dubai Chocolate & History Of Dubai Chocolate
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By now, the global Dubai chocolate craze that began in 2023 has resulted in many copycats of the original layered chocolate bar, plus a porting of the flavors to brownies, cakes, cheesecakes, cookies, croissants, iced coffee, pancakes, pistachio butter cups, and dozens more (see the ††footnote). There are even Dubai chocolate beers! The marvelous chocolate bar sought by so many is filled with chopped pistachio nuts, tahini (sesame paste) mixed with pistachio cream, and knafeh, a crispy, flaky, traditional Middle Eastern pastry made from shredded phyllo dough* (photo #20). Chocolate combined with pistachio isn’t a new idea, but the crunchy nature of the knafeh and tahini-pistachio cream filling have created something unique and wonderful. We acknowledge that we’ve never had the original Dubai chocolate created by Sarah Hamouda (photo #6), a British-Egyptian entrepreneur living in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Her atelier, FIX Dessert Chocolatier, can only make 500 bars a day, and even if you get to Dubai, they are only available via Deliveroo. You can’t walk into a store to buy one, except for two pop-up-type locations at the Dubai Airport. Otherwise, an order window opens twice a day in the online store, and the bars are usually sold out within a few minutes. [source]. You can order online, shipped from Dubai. As of this writing the bars are $20 U.S. on the website. We The bar that launched 1,000 likes (well millions, actually) debuted in 2022 (see the history below). Sarah did not call it Dubai chocolate. That name was bestowed by Tik-Tok. However, since the craze began, we’ve tasted every Dubai chocolate we could get our hands on: brands from the U.S., Europe, and Turkey. Will the original bar best the current leader in our tastings, Dubai chocolate from Swiss chocolatier Läderach? Since we had our first bite of Läderach’s Dubai chocolate, we’ve scoured America and beyond to find the best—and it’s not surprising that we found it from…drum roll… Läderach! It’s the best Dubai chocolate by far, and it’s our Top Pick Of The Week. Given how much we love pistachio, chocolate, and phyllo, we’d go so far as to call it our Top Pick Of The Year. Before we extol the glory of Läderach, we’ll start with the origin of Dubai chocolate. Below: > The history of Dubai chocolate. > What makes one bar better than the next? > Our favorite Dubai chocolate from Läderach. > Pairing wine with Dubai chocolate. > A recipe to make your own Dubai chocolate. Elsewhere on The Nibble: > The different types of chocolate: a photo glossary. > The year’s 69 chocolate holidays. > Pairing wine with chocolate. Like some other culinary creations (Fettuccine Alfredo being the best-known), Dubai chocolate was born from pregnancy cravings. As a high-end chocolatier, Sarah had plenty of crave-worthy treats from which to choose, but she wanted a chocolate bar with the flavors and textures of traditional Middle Eastern desserts. She first imagined the bar in 2021, while she was pregnant. She and her husband Yezen Alani, co-owner of FIX, started to develop the bar the following year, while maintaining their corporate jobs. The first bars were milk chocolate, followed by dark and white chocolate versions. The name of the original FIX bar is Can’t Get Knafeh Of It, a chocolate bar filled with: She applies punny names to all* of her bars. The layered ingredients create a unique texture contrast between the smooth chocolate exterior and the crunchy, nutty filling. What started as a local Dubai delicacy quickly exploded into an international phenomenon when videos of people biting into the chocolate bars went viral on social media. The name “Dubai chocolate” name evolved from a TikTok post that went viral in late 2023, after a food influencer, Maria Vehera, posted a video of herself eating one of the bars. Thousands, and then millions, of viewers began searching for “that chocolate from Dubai” and it became a global sensation (one source cites 100 million views!). The visual appeal of the green pistachio filling against the chocolate and the hand-painted splash design on top made it perfect for exploding on social media. “Dubai chocolate” became the catch-all search term, and the name for the thousands of copycats that followed—not just in chocolate, but in everything from pastry to beer. Not surprisngly, FIX Dessert Chocolatier’s handmade bars sold out as fast as they could be created. The scarcity drove even more interest, with people traveling to Dubai specifically to try the chocolate or having friends bring bars back from trips. Ever if you’re in Dubai, it can be tough to get your hands on FIX’s Can’t Get Knafeh of It. The bars are only available via Deliveroo at specific times in Dubai. Not surprisngly, Fix Dessert Chocolatier’s original bars selling out constantly and commanding premium prices. This scarcity drove even more interest, with people traveling to Dubai specifically to try the chocolate or having friends bring bars back from trips. The viral success prompted chocolate makers worldwide to create their own versions of Dubai chocolate, leading to variations that incorporate different nuts, flavors, and textures while maintaining the core concept of kunafa-filled chocolate. Alas, since ingredients can’t be copyrighted, Sarah may never receive the wealth and glory she deserves from her marvelous creation. At best, a number of fanatics (like us) will order from her website for delivery overseas, and Dubai will become a tourist mecca. And our best advice: Order the Dubai chocolate from Läderach. As you can imagine, the quality of the bars varies with the overall quality of the producer. Chocolate is categorized by‡: After we tried the first 20 mass-market and commercial brands, and those from one level above, we decided to try only those of our favorite chocolatiers.
It’s the quality of the ingredients, of course, but also the preparation and the proportion. “Proportion” turned out to be rather important. Starting with the ingredients: |
Everybody gets into the act:
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Läderach was founded in 1962 in a small village in the central-eastern part of Switzerland. Founder Rudolf Läderach Jr. came from a local family of bakers. In 1970, Rudolf patented a revolutionary process for manufacturing thin-walled, hollow chocolate balls to be filled for truffles. Chocolate truffle shells were difficult and messy to produce. His invention enabled chocolatiers to fill the premade shells efficiently, fundamentally changing professional truffle production. For decades, Läderach operated primarily as a B2B supplier, providing the shells and other high-quality chocolate products to pastry shops and hotels. In 1981, Läderach expanded to Dillenburg, Germany and began to export overseas. It wasn’t until 2004, following the acquisition of a retailer of premium chocolates, pralines, and confectionery—the Swiss confectionery chain Merkur Confiserie AG—that Merkur’s chain of retail chocolate boutiques enabled Läderach to become a global consumer brand, rebranded with the Läderach name. Twenty years later, by 2024, Läderach employed some 2,000 people in 20 countries. The company has 220 boutiques, 100 of which are located in Europe; and as of early 2026, 40 to 45 boutiques across the U.S.**. It also sells online. The FrischSchoggi line (Swiss German for “fresh chocolate”), of which their Dubai is part, was launched in 2004. It was a deliberate attempt to move away from the boxed chocolates that had been around since the Victorian age. (Richard Cadbury is credited with the invention of boxed chocolates in 1861, with his “Fancy Box.” Prior to then, chocolates were sold in simple paper bags or plain tins. Richard, who was also an artist, designed a highly decorative box featuring a painting of his own daughter holding a kitten.) Back to FrischSchoggi: The chocolate was made in slabs like bark, but the key selling point was freshness. The chocolate is produced in Switzerland and shipped to global boutiques within days. The customer experience was also exciting: large, hand-broken slabs behind glass display cases. Customers specify the exact weight or piece they want, and it is packaged in transparent bags to showcase the texture. There are numerous flavors. (We frequently give them as impressive little gifts). These are currently available in the U.S.: > Take a look at all the FrischSchoggi flavors. You’ll want to bite every one! > Läderach makes itx easy with curated assortments. There are 12 flavors in this large “boat”: Pairings With Milk Or White Chocolate Red Wines Since dark chocolate has more tannin, bitterness, and intensity, it pairs better with wines with a heavier weight: Thanks to Lindt for this recipe (photo below). *The FIX bars currently include Butter to Be Safe Than Salty, Baklawa 2 The Future, Can’t Get Knafeh of It, Cereously Chewsy, Honey I’m Comb, Jam or Go Nuts, Mahalabi Or Not To Be, Mind Your Own Speculoos, Pick Up A Pretzel, and Time To Mango. **Current U.S. Läderach locations: California (Bay Area, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco), Florida (Boca Raton, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, Orlando, Palm Beach, Tampa Bay), Massachusetts (Boston, Braintree), New Jersey (Paramus, Short Hills), New York Metropolitan Area (Manhattan, Long Island, Central Valley), Texas (Houston, Dallas), and the Washington D.C. and Northern Virginia Area (Arlington and Tysons Corner). †Kadayif (kataifi) refers specifically to the shredded, angel-hair-like pastry dough, ingredient. It’s also called kadayıf in Turkish). It looks like thin, pale noodles or shredded wheat and is made by drizzling batter through a fine sieve onto a hot surface, creating wispy strands that are typically toasted in butter until crunchy. It’s an ingredient in different desserts or savory dishes. Kadayif and kunafa is the term used in Turkey and Arabic regions, while kataifi is the common Greek term. Knafeh (kunafa) is a classic Middle Eastern/Levantine pastry, the final, cream- or cheese-layered dessert made using shredded kataifi dough as its base and topping, soaked in syrup. In the context of Dubai chocolate, the Can’t Get Knafeh of It chocolate bar from FIX Dessert Chocolatier uses toasted kataifi strands mixed with pistachio cream and tahini, all enveloped in chocolate. Thus, the filling is inspired by knafeh’s flavor profile and uses knafeh’s signature ingredient, kataifi, in a deconstructed, no-syrup, chocolate-bar format. ††More Dubai-flavored products: ‡‡No one in the U.S. can explain why only the milk chocolate Dubai is available here. While it’s our favorite, we have pals who bring the dark and white Dubai back from Europe. Dubai pralines (bonbons) are available in dark, milk, and mixed dark/milk boxes. CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.
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