If your For You page has looked anything like ours lately, you’ve probably watched at least a dozen versions of the same trend: thick chocolate, a crackly pistachio filling, and that unmistakable crunch from toasted kataifi. It’s the kind of thing that shows up in your feed on repeat until you finally give in and try it yourself.
The Dubai chocolate trend took over social media seemingly overnight, and honestly, we couldn’t resist bringing it to our topping bar.
The Trend Belongs at a Topping Bar
Strip out the branding and it’s really just a flavor combo. Pistachio, chocolate, something crunchy. That’s the whole appeal, honestly.
Look at it that way and it’s not far from what already happens at a topping bar every day, just usually one ingredient at a time instead of all crammed into a single bar you have to order online and wait weeks for.
How to Build the Bowl
Our Cake Batter frozen yogurt in Hazlet, NJ is the flavor we’d reach for first, sweet without being sharp, which matters once the richer stuff starts piling on top.
The pistachio cream honestly does more work than people give it credit for. There’s a nutty, almost savory thing going on that keeps the bowl from turning into straight sugar.
Then there’s the kataifi, shredded phyllo dough crisped into thin golden strands, kind of like a pie crust if you broke it apart. Warm chocolate drizzle on top and it stops looking like a pile of ingredients.
Build It However You Want
There’s no formula you actually have to follow here. Pistachio, kataifi, drizzle, and nothing else? That’s a completely fine bowl on its own, no notes needed. Some people come in wanting the exact combination they saw online and leave it at that, and that’s fine too.
Two Ways to Build It
| Classic Build | Wild Build | |
| Base | Cake Batter froyo | Cake Batter froyo |
| Add-ins | Pistachio cream, kataifi, chocolate drizzle | Same, plus gummy bears or sprinkles |
| Vibe | Close to the original trend | Whatever sounds good today |
People mix things up constantly. Some of the better combinations we’ve seen started as a joke someone made while standing at the topping bar, unable to pick between two toppings.
Dessert doesn’t owe the internet anything. You’re not ordering off a menu someone else wrote; that’s the whole point of self-serve.
Hazlet Has Always Had This Spirit
Our frozen yogurt with toppings in Hazlet, NJ setup was doing this exact thing long before Dubai chocolate had a name. Fruit, classic tart, sure. But also whatever weird combination someone’s kid talked them into that week, and plenty of combinations we never would have thought to put on the menu ourselves.
The trend didn’t change what we do. It just handed people a name for it.
Same Bar, Same Rules
Same bar, same setup, every time you walk in:
- Pick a base
- Add what sounds good
- Skip what doesn’t
- Don’t worry too much about getting it “right”
- Come Build One
Trends like this come and go, but the reason this one stuck around is pretty simple: pistachio, chocolate, and crunch just work together. Our topping bar has had those pieces on hand the whole time, we just hadn’t put a name on the combination until now.
So next time you’re on route 35 around Hazlet, give it a try. Start with the classic version if you want to see what all the fuss is about, or skip straight to your own version with whatever’s calling your name at the topping bar that day.
Crunch factor, taken care of. However you build it, it’s still your bowl.