Green-eyed monster

Dubai Chocolate’s success is the envy of the world. But within its pista-filled centre is a story of East and West, foreign and familiar, and a sweet nod to Palestine

- VIR SANGHVI

There is a lot to be said for Dubai. It is one of the world's great cities and a global destination because of the vision and enterprise of its leadership.

But, as much as I admire Dubai, there is one thing I never thought it would become.

The home of the world’s trendiest chocolate.

Over the last six months, so-called Dubai Chocolate has become such a craze that a black market has developed for bars of the handmade original. Other companies, even Lindt, have been quick to make their own version. In the UK, supermarkets and chocolate stores impose a limit on how much a customer can buy. (Around two bars is usually the cut-off.) Even the market for pistachios has been shaken by the demand for Dubai Chocolate, of which pistas are a constituent.

Like most good things in Dubai, the creation of Dubai Chocolate comes from a marriage between East and West. It was created by Sara Hamouda, a British-Egyptian woman who now lives in Dubai (she used to live in the UK). Five years ago, she had never made chocolate in her life.

In 2021, she began longing for the Arab flavours of her childhood. She told a Filipino pastry chef in Dubai what kind of chocolate she was dreaming of and collaborated with him to create chocolate filled with Middle-Eastern pastry, pista cream and tahini.