This is Berry Nuts.
New Yorkers are waiting up to two hours in the cold for a $25 cup of strawberries, chocolate and pistachio cream.
In the bustling Bryant Park Winter Village, the Strawberries booth is draw big lines For its berry desserts. Its flagship offering is the $25 “Dubai Chocolate” featuring berries, melted Belgian chocolate, pistachio cream imported from Italy, chopped pistachios and crunchy pieces of katyaki pastry – the crisp phyllo dough that is popular in Middle Eastern desserts.
Vasily Malyshev, 33, who started the booth with his wife Anna, 32, said it has “the perfect balance of sweetness and freshness” with “the contrast of liquid and crunchy elements.”
After debuting at the Bryant Park Spring Market for a few weeks, this is the first holiday season for the strawberry booth, and it’s been a big hit after going viral on TikTok and Instagram.
“It’s absolutely amazing,” said Vasili, who also works in software. “We certainly didn’t expect all the virality.”
The booth, which is the only location for Strabero, is located next to the carousel on the southern aisle of the market and the gnocchi on the 9th stall, which is also quite popular.
The average wait time is around 40 minutes, according to the couple, but it can go up to two hours on weekends. A sign announces “Strawberry line starts here, sorry for the wait,” and a trail of hungry visitors snakes around the various poles, like the security line at JFK on a hellish day.
Last Thursday around noon, a crowd waited about 40 minutes for cups of chocolate and berries. In addition to “Dubai Chocolate,” the menu also includes simpler options like the $15 “Dark Choco” (berries and dark chocolate) and the “Ruby Dream,” also $15 and featuring Belgian chocolate made from pink cocoa pods that taste slightly sweeter. Provides. sour taste.
People rushed over, noted the line and murmured, “Is it worth it?” and “It’s just strawberries” under their breath. Vasily saw a woman brazenly approach the people standing at the front of the line and offer Venmo to anyone who would place the order for her. He said people have even offered Strawberry employees $60 in cash to get out of line.
Taylor Sciandra, an 18-year-old college student from Buffalo, said she didn’t hesitate to try Dubai Chocolate after seeing it on social media, despite the wait and price.
“It felt great,” she said. His decision? “I like crunch.”
Sammy Kramer and Evelyn Kurowski, 15, also tried it and said it was worth the hype.
Rachel Claire, 52, of Niagara Falls, Canada, waited for more than an hour. “We came just for this,” he said.
Malyshev, who lives in Bergen County, won’t say what his profit margin is on a $25 cup of strawberries. But Anna said Viner Village takes a significant portion of the revenue and has seen a huge increase in the cost of ingredients like berries and chocolate due to supply issues.
“We just use the best ingredients,” said Anna, who has been working in food for a long time and even has a booth dedicated to whoopie pies.
The strawberry is part of the larger “Dubai Chocolate” craze.
Sarah Hamouda, founder of Dubai-based Fix Dessert Chocolatier, is credited with inventing the trend, which has been reinterpreted by dessert vendors around the world.
UAE-based influencer Maria Wehera Posted an ASMR video Eating one of Fix’s milk chocolate bars filled with pistachio cream and kataifi on TikTok in December 2023. It has since been viewed over 100 million times.
There are over 147,000 posts with the hashtag #dubaichocolate on both TikTok and Instagram.
In the city, Nuts Factory, which has various locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn, also sells Dubai Chocolate. a pack of two large bars Goes for $49.99 on their websiteAnd they also make a cup of strawberries for $17.99.
Both have been quite popular. “It was amazing,” a spokesperson for the store told The Post.
After his stint at Bryant Park ends Jan. 5, Malyshev is considering opening a brick-and-mortar Strabero in SoHo, the West Village, Chelsea Market or Hudson Yards. But first, the young couple, who have a new baby at home, need a moment to catch their breath.
“It’s been an absolutely crazy few months,” Vasily said.
