Kentucky shop serving TikTok-famous Dubai chocolate is coming to Lexington
A Georgetown chocolate shop that’s already expanded once is about to make a big jump into Lexington.
Chocomania in 2021 opened in a small shop before moving in 2023 to 117 N. Broadway and adding custom-baked cakes and breakfast and lunch menus including crepes, deli sandwiches and salads.
Christine Sawalha, who owns and operates the shop with her sisters Sharline and Vanda Sawalha and their mother, Sahar Sawalha, said “People just keep telling us, ‘You need to come to Lexington.’”
So they are. After the first of the year, they plan to open a Chocomania location inside Fayette Mall. Christine Sawalha said that she can’t say exactly where it will be just yet.
But they are hoping to open in late January or early February, which means it should be ready before Valentine’s Day.
Like the Georgetown location, which is staying open, this will be a dessert shop, selling more than just handmade chocolates, although it will have plenty of those — 70 to 80 varieties.
Sawalha said they also will have a bakery case with dessert items as well as coffee.
She said one thing they plan to have on the menu: Dubai Chocolate, the viral sensation that has been a big hit in Georgetown.
“Everyone has been raving about it,” Sawalha said. It’s a pistachio creme treat covered in chocolate that was popularized on TikTok by a chocolate shop in the desert country of Dubai.
“We’ve been making it and it’s our number one seller right now,” she said. “It’s so good. And we’re adding another one, the baklava chocolate, tweaking the flavors. We’re hoping it will go viral too.”
This story was originally published October 16, 2024 at 9:51 AM.
