UK chocolatiers and big retailers say Dubai chocolate is here to stay, despite the rising cost and patchy availability of key ingredient pistachios.
The chocolate filled with sweetened creamed nut and butter-fried vermicelli originated in Dubai but has been mimicked by manufacturers around the world after it became a viral sensation on social media.
It was created by the Dubai-based Sarah Hamouda in 2021, who wanted the combination of chocolate and pistachio-filled Arabic sweets to satisfy her pregnancy cravings. Social media influencers then popularised the treat.
UK supermarkets have begun marketing their own versions, with retailer Marks & Spencer launching its own Dubai-style chocolate in April. Supermarket chain Waitrose rationed sales to two bars per customer when it began stocking the Swiss chocolatier Lindt’s Dubai-style chocolate last month.
But independent chocolatiers and confectioners have been making their own variants on the Dubai chocolate theme for months now.
Maison Samadi, a chocolatier in Hammersmith, West London, with Lebanese origins, was among the first in the UK to make its own Dubai-style chocolate, which it launched in October last year.
Founder Maria Chehab had been developing a new line of chocolates that would be inspired by her own family traditions when the craze for Dubai chocolate hit Europe.
Her grandfather Hassan Samadi was known in Beirut for his kunafa − the sweet made of vermicelli pastry and clotted cream or cheese − from which Dubai chocolate draws one of its key ingredients.
“Pistachio and kunafa have always been part of our heritage at Maison Samadi, going back to my great-grandfather's shop in Beirut,” said Ms Chehab.
She had used pistachio and kunafa in her chocolates in the past, but never in combination until she created her own variants of Dubai chocolate.
Today she sells her kunafa and pistachio Dubai Viral Style Chocolate as part of her brand’s “heritage collection” – a nod to her family’s history in pastry-making and confectionery. The pistachios are the sourced from Aleppo in Syria, with a 110g bar costing £16.75 ($22.18).
But she has tweaked the recipe to make sure it is in line with her clients' tastes – less sugar, with more cocoa and pistachio. “Our bars are less sweet, with the right balance of ingredients and you can taste the quality,” said Ms Chehab.
Model, BBC television presenter and activist Leomie Anderson described the bars as the “elite” version on her TikTok channel.
Ms Chehab recalled how her uncles set up shop in London’s Hyde Park Corner and Old Brompton Road, selling traditional Lebanese sweets, as well as chocolate and confectionery.
Their grandfather, Muhieddine Samadi, established Samadi Sweets in Beirut in 1872. His son Hassan then popularised the name in the capital, thanks to the "outstanding quality" of his desserts, said Nabil Chehab, who runs Maison Samadi with his wife Maria.
The grandchildren continued the business, expanding it to the Gulf and the UK.
She founded Maison Samadi in 2014 to continue the family tradition, focusing on chocolate.
Pistachio shortage
The trend is marked by rising costs of pistachios in the UK, which are mainly imported from the US and Iran.
Rude Cookies, a bakery in Glasgow which makes its own Dubai chocolate complained of a “national pistachio paste shortage which has left us a little bit unprepared” on its social media channels in April.
The shop has recently launched its own variants on the Dubai chocolate theme, including an Easter egg filled with crunchy pistachio cream, and a “crunchy Dubai-style spread” in four flavours including pistachio, hazelnut, caramel and biscoff.
The pistachio “shortage” was due to an incoming EU ban on Iranian pistachios, after these were found to be contaminated with a fungus known as aflatoxin, suppliers told The National.
In Warwickshire, central England, pistachio importer Hassan Miremadi said this had encouraged US-based suppliers to put up their prices and become “reluctant” to recommit to yearly contracts.
“It's been a difficult year. The biggest contracts have been virtually impossible,” he said. “It’s the politics of the pistachio industry.”
This meant that for all the new demand for pistachios and pistachio paste, the total volume of sales had remained consistent owing to the “skyrocketing” price of pistachios in the UK, according to Liverpool-based supplier Nuts in Bulk.
Yet retail experts have questioned the need to ration sales of Dubai chocolate in big supermarkets. Steve Dresser, who leads the consultancy Grocery Insight, questioned whether with Waitrose was “trying to generate scarcity” when it imposed a two bar limit.
Ms Chehab said Maison Samadi had not been affected by the rising costs, as it mainly imports its pistachios from Syria − a nod to regionally famous pistachios of Aleppo.
Branding challenges
Ms Hamouda has previously said that she encourages independent chocolatiers to come up with their own versions, despite having trademarked her brand Fix Dessert Chocolatier in the UAE and other countries.
Fix continues to supply up to five hundred orders a day in the UAE, but her partner Yezen Alali recently told the BBC that the imitations were “very frustrating because people are trying knock-offs, which damages our brand”.
The trademark can't stop people from making chocolate stuffed with pistachio, vermicelli and tahini, but copycats face challenges in how to name and brand their chocolate.
German supermarket brand Aldi was banned from selling a version made in Turkey by a German court last year, after judges ruled that consumers would take a product called Alyan Dubai Handmade Chocolate “to mean that the chocolate was manufactured in Dubai”.
Instead, the court sided with Dubai-based businessman Andreas Wilmers, who produced his own handmade Dubai chocolate in the emirate, and sold it in Germany for €30 ($34.1).
Likewise in the UK, chocolatiers are opting for “Dubai-style” or in Maison Samadi's case “Viral Dubai” to avoid confusing customers and breaching marketing regulations.
There are also likely to be restrictions on how the product is marketed to children, given its high fat, sugar and salt contents.
The UK's Advertising Standards Authority said they had not yet received a complaint related to Dubai chocolate brands.
