Post date: Feb 18, 2011 5:15:18 PM
A Dubai cafe charges almost 300 US dollars for a chocolate truffle as shoppers bite into luxury retail again after a downturn hit consumer spending in the Gulf Arab emirate.
UAE-TRUFFLES - It may look like a nightclub but Chocopoligie - is one of Dubai's newest eateries.
It serves the very best in chocolate truffles.
CHOCOPOLOGIE MANAGING DIRECTOR, YASSINE BENALI, SAYING:"The people know truffles as chocolate sprayed with powder, cocoa powder on top. Chocolate with ganache inside it, but this is real real truffle. It has real truffle inside and is covered with real chocolate."
Chocopoligie makes no apology for its prices.
It's top of the range truffles are called "La Madeline au Truffe" - and they cost one 1000 dirhams - that's around 272 dollars - each.
Owner Yassine Benali says they're the most expensive in the world.
CHOCOPOLOGIE MANAGING DIRECTOR, YASSINE BENALI, SAYING:
"You get people who are looking for a birthday present, they could buy a phone for 1000 dirhams (approximately 272 US dollars), which would only get you a very ordinary phone. They are expensive these days. Or I could buy the most expensive chocolate in the world, with certificate and everything, its more fun!"
Dubai is still recovering from last year's debt crisis which brought stock markets in the Gulf crashing down.
Confidence is slowly returning to the region renowned for its flashy living and extravagant lifesyle.
And although Yassine has only sold 17 of his most expensive truffles since opening in December.
They have added more than 5,000 dollars to his takings and Yassine now has plans to open a second cafe.
Hayley Platt, Reuters