Date: Summer 2025
Under the Lemon Sun
By June the UAE stops wanting heavy food. You want something sharp, something cold, something fresh enough to cut through the heat.
So in summer 2025, we went citrus. Not one new item quietly added to the corner of the board, the entire menu re-skinned in lemon green and yellow for the season.
Leading it were the lemon honey wings, sticky and sweet with heat coming in underneath and lemon zest over the top, served with a dip on the side. They came in a bright yellow cup with a small flag stuck in the middle of them reading Taste the Sunshine, which is the bit that ended up in everyone’s stories.
The rest of the menu came along for the ride. Same crunch people order all year, wearing green and yellow for a few months, with lemon badges printed through it. One read “You Got That Lemon Rizz.” Another item stamped “Certified Fresh, Summer-Approved.” Nobody needed either of them. That was rather the point.
Branches went yellow too: stripes, awnings, crates, the look of somewhere you’d pull over on a coast road rather than a drive-thru you pass on the way home.It was an unforgettable summer menu that tasted like the best summer season of your life.
Closing line
The Summer Lemon season ended but CHIKI continues to serve the best fried chicken dishes in UAE.
