I Tried the Viral Dubai Chocolate & It Wasn't Quite What I Expected
Nowadays it seems that once something is trending on social media you can't escape it. One of the latest food trends that's been dominating the feeds lately is the viral Dubai chocolate bar. Unlike everyday milk chocolate bars, this hefty confection comes packed with pistachio cream and kataifi (a type of shredded phyllo) and is then coated in smooth chocolate. The candy bar looks like something straight out of Willy Wonka's fictional chocolate factory—or, as fellow '90s kids can vouch, much like a Reptar Bar.
Although it is now known as "Dubai chocolate," the original concept for the bar arose from Fix Dessert Chocolatier, a specialty shop in the United Arab Emirates, which sells out daily of the famous treat. There, the bar sells under the clever name, "Can't Get Knafeh of It."
The decadent candy first gained traction at the end of 2023, when a TikTok post reviewing the bar went viral (today it has almost 80 million views). However, it wasn't until this past summer that the bar gained even more momentum and garnered copycat versions at stores around the world, and even here in the United States. Over the past month, my Instagram feed has been inundated with images and videos of the oozing green chocolate bar. I've even seen creators whipping up their own versions in their home kitchens.
As someone with a big sweet tooth for all things chocolate—and an even bigger tooth for pistachios and pistachio-flavored anything (yes, I have my own jar of pistachio crema I brought home from Italy in the fridge)—my interest in this treat was definitely piqued. So, when I found myself walking down the street in New York City the other evening and saw a sign outside a local Nuts Factory store advertising the bar, I knew I had to go in and see what all the hype was about.
With some 150 locations nationwide, Nuts Factory sells a wide variety of nuts, dried fruits, spices, candies, and more. The snack chain currently offers two different versions of the Dubai chocolate bar: one in milk chocolate and the other in dark chocolate.
I opted for the dark variety because of its reputed health benefits but after trying this one, I'd be intrigued to sample the milk chocolate version. As you may have heard, this robust chocolate bar isn't cheap—it clocks in at a whopping $20 per bar (and the store will only sell you one at a time) so you can best bet I hoped it lived up to the hype. As soon as I got home with chocolate bar in hand, it was time to dig in.
The look: Slightly wider than your average chocolate bar, and at least twice the normal depth, the bar appeared to be easily dividable into squares. Alas, when I tried to crack it open, it did not divide along the lines and broke off into its own Rorschach-like shape, leaving behind a messy bite. Wreckage aside, I picked up the "square" and dug in. (For future nibbles, I stored the bar in the fridge, which helped reduce the oozing messiness, but it still didn't break off easily into squares.)
The taste: Let me start right out by saying this chocolate bar is good. Honestly, I would expect nothing less from a $20 chocolate bar. However, it didn't live up to the hype I've seen for months across social media. The first thing I tasted was the bitter dark chocolate, which was really good and tasted like a smooth, melt-in-your-mouth, high-quality chocolate confection. At the same time, the thing that stood out to me most was the unparalleled crunch provided by the kataifi. It provided a fun texture, although it was a little overwhelming. The bar could have benefitted from a little less crunch and a lot more pistachio flavor. The chocolate-to-pistachio ratio just wasn't working for me.
I was most looking forward to that pistachio cream filling and found myself disappointed that it was overpowered by the strong dark chocolate. In fact, had I tried this in a blind taste test, I wouldn't have been able to clock the pistachio flavor at all. Instead, the filling was almost reminiscent of halva, with an indistinguishable sweet, slightly nutty flavor. Upon delving further into the ingredients of both the bar I tried from the Nuts Factory and the original bar from Fix, I came across a notable difference between the two. The bar from Fix also included tahini paste in its concoction, which might help bring out those nuttier notes I found lacking from my chocolate bar.
Overall, though, this is a really tasty dessert. I'd be very curious to see how the milk chocolate version compares to the dark chocolate. The pistachio could very well be more discernible when paired with a less bitter chocolate. Do I think the bar is worth $20? No. Would I spend that amount to try the milk chocolate version? Yes. And would I seek out the original bar that went viral were it to become available in the United States? You bet. I'd probably run to try it.
Sign up for our newsletter!
