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M&S's viral Dubai-style pistachio chocolate bar is bound to sell out – but how does it taste?
The original Dubai chocolate bar was made by luxury confectionery brand, Fix Dessert Chocolatier, in the UAE. The now treat is a nod to the traditional Knafeh dessert, which is made with spun pastry dough, layered with cheese, soaked in a sweet, sugar-based syrup and finished with a sprinkling of pistachio. The chocolate bars feature a filling of pistachio cream, crispy Kadayif (a fine vermicelli pastry), and a hint of tahini. Think Ferrero Rocher meets baklava, but richer, and infinitely more difficult to track down.
Fix Dessert Chocolatier's creations aren't available outside Dubai, but that hasn't stopped brands from attempting to cash in on the viral momentum. First it was Lidl, whose affordable sold out within days. And now Marks & Spencer has joined the pistachio party. Its bar, which launched to fanfare in April, immediately flew off the shelves. It is now back. But does M&S's version live up to the viral hype? And is it worth its £8.50 price tag? I found out.
How I tested
It will come as no surprise that the testing process for this review involved me eating a lot of chocolate – a particularly hard day in the office for me.
For context, I have tried a number of Dubai-style chocolate bars in the past, including Lidl's now sold-out special. So I knew what I was looking for: a good bar is thick and indulgent with high-quality milk chocolate shell, generous lashing of pistachio cream and a satisfying crunch.
This is more expensive than your average chocolate bar, so I considered if it really is worth the price – assessing the size, quality of ingredients and if it tastes as luxurious as the price tag suggests.
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Fairuz refused to perform in Lebanon during the civil war, to avoid the appearance of taking sides, but her son took a very different approach, performing in Beirut throughout the conflict. A self-declared communist, he was an active supporter of the Palestinian struggle for statehood, and had been influenced by witnessing the 1976 massacre of Palestinians by rightwing Christian militias at the Tel el-Zaatar refugee camp. He moved from Christian-dominated east Beirut to live in a Muslim area of the city. Ziad was born and grew up in Antelias, a few miles north of Beirut, and was educated at a Jesuit school, Collège Notre-Dame de Jamhour. He was already writing songs by the time he was a teenager, and at 17 made his acting debut, appearing in a play by the Rahbani Brothers in which his mother played the lead. In the same year, he wrote the music for a lyric by his uncle Mansour, when his father was in hospital. Sa'alouni Al Nas was the first of his compositions to be sung by his mother. He was married to Dalal Karam from 1979 to 2009, but they divorced after it was found that their boy, Assi, was not his biological son. He is survived by Fairuz, and by his brother, Hali, and sister, Reema. Ziad Rahbani, musician and playwright, born 1 January 1956; died 26 July 2025
