A seemingly ordinary chocolate bar bends, snaps, then oozes out a vibrant green paste. You can almost smell the rich chocolate and nutty aroma through your screen. You immediately click on the comment section of the satisfying TikTok video, which tells you you’re watching someone eat a “Dubai Chocolate Bar.”
TikTok’s newest eye-catching treat is a sweet confection filled with pistachio cream and crispy toasted knafeh, or shredded phyllo dough. The original version of this treat is from Fix Dessert Chocolatier, an exclusive bakery in Dubai. Since it went viral, Middle Eastern bakeries in the Bay Area have seen a boost in customers looking to see if the treat is as good as it seems online.
Menlo Park’s LeVant Dessert, a quaint Middle Eastern treat shop, hopped onto the trend over the summer. Owner Maya Fezzani sells her own version of the Dubai chocolate for $15.
After Fezzani saw a social media post about the chocolate bar, she spontaneously decided to make her own version using ingredients she had on hand.
“I just created my own, and then people started calling it ‘Dubai chocolate,’” Fezzani said. For weeks, the chocolate garnered casual interest from customers who placed orders for pickup.
But everything changed in mid-July when two young women visited the store and picked up the chocolate bar. What made their purchase so special? They posted it on TikTok.
Within 48 hours, the video reached over a thousand views, sparking lines in front of Fezzani’s store that she had never seen before. “People were looking for the Dubai chocolate in the Bay Area, and we just happened to be caught in the hype,” she said. That very TikTok currently holds over 225,000 views.
The response from the community has been overwhelmingly positive, including from many M-A students. “I would recommend it to other people because it tastes similar to a regular chocolate bar but slightly more elevated. It has a nice kick to it,” junior Yara Abuelsorour said.
“Once you bite and hear the crunchy outside, it all melts in your mouth into this delicious chocolate and pistachio flavor,” junior Millo Skhiri said.
“Enjoy it out of the fridge. Just enjoy the crunch of the chocolate and the inside,” Fezzani said when asked about how to best enjoy the treat.
As the Dubai chocolate stays trending on social media, Fezzani said LeVant Dessert is delighted to continue selling their unique twist on the viral treat.
