In August of 2024, a Middle Eastern inspired chocolate bar went viral. It quickly became known as the “Dubai Chocolate Bar”, as it was first made by a chocolatier in Dubai. The bar seems like an ordinary chocolate bar, but it is stuffed with pistachio and knafeh (crispy, shredded phyllo dough).
The bar originated from Fix Dessert Chocolatier. The owner, Sarah Hamouda, has said that the chocolate bar was originally inspired by one of her pregnancy cravings in 2021. Little did she know the viral sensation it would become.
Many people are skeptical when trying this bar. The combination of knafeh, pistachios, and chocolate may seem not so appetizing at first glance. However, between the creamy, crunchy sweetness of the bar, customers cannot get enough.
One of the issues Hamouda ran into was that there were simply not enough resources, manufacturers, and time to produce this chocolate for the whole world. After it got viral on the social media platform, TikTok, comments were flooded with questions on where they could get their own Dubai chocolate bar, locally.
This caused an upsurge of recreations in different locations across the world. One of those locations includes our own, Rancho Cucamonga.
There is a Middle Eastern dessert store in Rancho called Sea of Sweet. Not only does it produce the viral Dubai chocolate bar, but it also has tons of other traditional desserts that are just as delicious.
The owners, Maysoun Asakriah and Rami Rizkallah, have said “Originally, we made the chocolate bar just for fun. We made about five to start, for my daughter and some close friends who had asked for some.” They started to sell the bars, still only making about five at a time.
One day, an influencer Door Dashed one of the bars and posted about it on her social media. This is the moment where their chocolate bar went viral. “The next day there was a line going out the door! We didn’t even know we got posted so we were not prepared for this many people.”
They went from making five bars to making hundreds overnight. This brought about several changes to their store, including buying more equipment and hiring more employees.
The two owners are a couple who immigrated here from Lebanon in 2019. When they came to America, they had nothing, working as uber drivers until they saved enough money to build their sweets store. Accomplishing what they claim is “the American Dream”, they continue to share their culture through their food.
One of the biggest takeaways from visiting Sea of Sweet was that, although people have come in for the Dubai chocolate, they end up getting other Middle Eastern desserts and more often than not, they love them.