Chocolate goes Dubai-style, at least for a while

A gooey chocolate bar from Dubai -- a color-splattered shell filled with dessert-inspired ingredients -- is sparking the new sweet craze in South Korea, with high demand largely being met through homemade versions or replicas crafted by local confectioneries.

While this handcrafted chocolate bar filled with pistachio cream and kataifi, a filo-based pastry, is experiencing supply shortages internationally due to Dubai-based Fix Dessert Chocolatier's daily order limit of 500, the scarcity has prompted local convenience chains to quickly capitalize on the trend.

Last week, convenience store chain CU stocked its shelves with its own Dubai-style chocolate products, in collaboration with local confectionery Montresor Korea. Their recipe replaces kataifi with dried noodles. Meanwhile, 7-Eleven is set to launch a similar product based on the original Dubai recipe later this month.

Officials from CU revealed Monday they had sold over 200,000 of the chocolate products within a day of the launch, leading to long lines at some stores.

The incredible demand has even created a chocolate black market online.

On Joonggonara, Korea's online marketplace for secondhand goods, CU's Dubai chocolate package has been selling for 50 to 100 percent higher than its retail price of 4,000 won ($2.90). Meanwhile, Fix Dessert Chocolatier’s original chocolate bar is valued at more than twice its retail price of $20 here, exceeding 70,000 won, or over $50.

The chocolate craze has also inspired Koreans to visit local bakeries or attempt making their own versions at home.

On YouTube, alongside numerous reviews of premade Dubai chocolate products, creators are filming themselves crafting customized versions. One notable example is a YouTube Shorts video uploaded in June by Korean food YouTuber zpp, which has amassed over 5 million views.

The international fame of this chocolate bar was propelled by food influencer Maria Vehera’s TikTok video in December last year. Her video, showcasing her relishing the chocolate bar filled with crunchy pistachio filling, had amassed over 65.4 million views as of Monday.