SUBSCRIBE & SAVE Less than $3 per week View Profile The Explainer Talking Points The Week Recommends Newsletters From the Magazine The Week Junior Food & Drink Personal Finance All Categories Newsletter sign up Culture & Life Food & Drink the week recommends The best Dubai chocolate The viral pistachio and filo chocolate bar has some delicious 'dupes' in UK supermarkets Newsletter sign up 'Creamy-meets-crunchy' chocolate – and a look 'made for social media' (Image credit: Alamy / Yalcin Sonat) Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK 14 April 2025 "The hottest chocolate in town is from Dubai", said The Telegraph. The "doorstep-sized slab", packed with "an oozing mixture" of sticky, green pistachios, tahini and crispy, shredded filo pastry, is the "star of countless TikTok clips". Sarah Hamouda, a British-Egyptian engineer living in Dubai, came up with the idea for the original bar back in 2021, when she began to crave the flavours of her mother's knafeh (a traditional Middle Eastern dessert made with shredded filo, soft cheese and syrup) during her pregnancy with her second child. The following year, she developed the chocolate with the help of a trained pastry chef and launched the "Can't Get Knefah Of It" bar, under her Fix Dessert Chocolatier brand. It wasn't until she began sending the bar out to local influencers that the business took off. A Tiktok video of food influencer Maria Vehera tasting the chocolate in her car went viral in December 2023 and has been liked millions of times. Hamouda told The New York Times her company received 30,000 orders within days of the video appearing online. Subscribe to The Week Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives. SUBSCRIBE & SAVE Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. Chocolate and pistachio is nothing new when it comes to flavour combinations, said the BBC. The "real standout element" with this chocolate is the crispy texture of the filling. And, from the "attractive" orange and green spots on top to the "crunch" sound it makes when you snap off a piece, Hamouda's bar is "made for social media". Undoubtedly, much of its "appeal" also lies in its "exclusivity". The original Fix Desset Chocolatier bars can only be ordered in Dubai or Abu Dhabi through the Deliveroo app. It costs around £15 per bar, must be bought during "specific hours" of the day and sells out "within minutes". Countless imitation bars – both upmarket and budget – have now appeared in UK supermarkets and corner shops. Nicknamed "Dubai chocolate", these bars have become so popular, Waitrose had to implement a two-bars-per-customer limit after it launched Lindt's version in March. The "craze" has meant tracking down these copycat bars can be quite tricky, said Emine Saner The Guardian. After trawling the local shops, I eventually found a small bar "wrapped in gold foil" at a garage, and felt like "Charlie Bucket winning a golden ticket." The "creamy-meets-crunchy texture" is "new and delightful". Some brands are charging "a pretty penny" to try the sweet treat, said The Mirror. Rifai's £21 bar is "likely to be the cream of the crop". Beautifully marbled and wrapped in gold foil, it's a "taste sensation". Also at the pricier end of the spectrum is Dubai Chocolate's £20 "socking great bar" which is handmade in Essex, said The Telegraph. Weighing in at over 500g, it's "decent value" and doesn't stray from the original recipe; it contains just chocolate, pistachios, kataifi and sesame paste. Look out, too, for Lindt's "cult-favourite", said London's The Standard. Priced at £10 a bar, "melt-in-your-mouth" Swiss chocolate meets a "delectable" filling, crafted with the "finest pistachio paste". Delicious. Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK Social Links Navigation Irenie Forshaw is a features writer at The Week, covering arts, culture and travel. 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