MJ Matthews|Marlin Chronicle
This issue, The Weekender hopped around Hampton Roads, taking the opportunity to try out some of the viral TikTok Dubai chocolate recipes. For those unfamiliar, “Dubai chocolate” is milk chocolate filled or mixed with sweet pistachio cream and kataifi, a thin, nutty pastry dough shredded and toasted to sweet crunchy bits. This dessert has gone viral on social media, especially Tiktok and Instagram, with many dessert shops taking their spin on the trend.
For this issue, 2D Cafe & Eatery, Lily’s Crepes, and KOCO Korean Fried Chicken and Croffles were the three places visited and reviewed for their delicious Dubai sweets. These eye-catching places aren’t far from here at all—2D Cafe is a 25-minute drive and Lily’s Crepes is a 26-minute drive from Virginia Wesleyan. KOCO is just 15 minutes away. These places are worth the drive and their Dubai chocolates are worth the hype.
Linda Tran runs KOCO Korean Fried Chicken and Croffles. A short drive from VWU, KOCO’s fun and cozy atmosphere welcomes everyone. While this business only opened a few years ago, the menu is 17 years in the making.
“We did the yogurt trend, we did the pizza place and then ‘build your own pizza,’ but none of it was my passion, per se,” Tran said. Tran started KOCO with influences from all over the world. Dubai chocolate serves as the newest trendy addition, found via Tiktok. KOCO’s specialties include Dubai chocolate croffles (croissant-waffles) and a Dubai chocolate strawberry cup—both of which were absolutely to-die-for.
KOCO puts a trending twist on their signature croffle, paired with a Dubai chocolate strawberry cup.
McKenna Howenstine|Marlin Chronicle
“It was a restaurant that incorporated everything that I love to eat, like lumpia, pancit, Korean fried chicken, croffles—which nobody had at the time,” Tran said. KOCO makes their pistachio cream sauce in house, making their version of Dubai chocolate that much more special.
“Everybody loves it because it’s something different,” Tran said.
2D Cafe & Eatery is owned by Monica Kiraly, located down by the Virginia Beach Oceanfront area. Kiraly has many Dubai chocolate inspired treats, such as Dubai chocolate covered strawberries, Dubai chocolate bars, Dubai chocolate hearts and a now new Dubai chocolate latte.
“Next week, Monday, I’m starting the Dubai latte,” Kiraly said. Kiraly’s most popular Dubai chocolate treat that is sold is her Dubai hearts.
Linda Tran and her daughter Taylor Tran keep KOCO going in store and on social media (@kocoskorean757).
McKenna Howenstine|Marlin Chronicle
“People are curious to try them…the heart shape looks fun also,” Kiraly said. She believes they’re selling the most because they’re more on the small side so if people enjoy the Dubai chocolate, they can get a larger Dubai chocolate bar she also sells.
Kiraly was inspired to sell her own Dubai chocolates from being curious and trying one in Amsterdam, Nederlands.
“They started to be very popular maybe a year ago, and I’ve seen them there and tried them, and I liked them,” Kiraly said. Unlike many other businesses, she wasn’t influenced by social media. Kiraly makes this treat because she liked how it tasted when she first tried a Dubai chocolate herself.
Lily’s Crepes is also an amazing spot to grab some Dubai chocolate treats in the Hampton Roads area, specifically in Chesapeake. This establishment is owned by Hassan Hajama, who’s selling viral Dubai chocolate strawberry cups and soon some Dubai chocolate inspired milkshakes and crepes. “We’re going to have a crepe, just inside it’s filled with only the crunch and we’ll make milkshakes out of that,” Hajama said.
Hajama got inspiration to start selling his version of the Dubai chocolate by someone asking him if he has heard of this new Dubai chocolate trend. Lily’s already had sold chocolate covered strawberries, so they decided to add a Dubai strawberry cup to their menu.
“We started selling the strawberry cups and published it over eight months ago, then we heard about Dubai and got on the trend… we started to also sell Dubai bars,” Hajama said. Lily’s Crepes has a chocolate fountain they use for the strawberry cups.
Lily’s makes everything from scratch,“We make the kataifi and roast our pistachios for blending, then we add our stuff like chocolate to make it smooth,” Hajama said. Hajama also said that he had a local influencer reach out to them to try this Dubai treat they offered. That video got 231,000 views. After that viral video they gained more popularity and their business boomed.
All three businesses created their own recipes for their Dubai treats, not fully following along with the Tiktok-viral traditional recipe. They both also went through some struggles to perfect their recipes that make them unique and original.
It is exciting to see local businesses build their success from something as small as a chocolate bar, and the local benefit is yummy, to say the least. If you want your own taste of these Dubai chocolate treats, visit Lily’s, 2D, KOCO and other businesses. All addresses can be found in the infographic above.
2D Cafe’s Dubai chocolate heart stuns in a new photo.
Abee Cassidy|Marlin Chronicle
By Abee Cassidy & MJ Matthews
arcassidy@vwu.edu & mjmatthews@vwu.edu
