09-04-2025
The best supermarket Dubai chocolate (and what to avoid)
The hottest chocolate in town is from Dubai. A doorstep-sized slab stuffed with an oozing mixture of ground pistachios, sesame paste and crisp shreds of an Arabic pastry called kadaif, it's the star of countless TikTok clips. Mostly these feature beautiful young women sitting in their cars and gazing into their phone cameras as they break the bars open with extravagantly manicured nails and stuff huge, messy chunks between their plump lips, licking their fingers with trembling frenzy. It's compelling viewing: are there wet wipes out of shot? Is this more calories than they have consumed all week? Will the oil stains ever come off of the cream calf-leather seats?
The sweet sensation is the creation of British-Egyptian Sarah Hamouda of Fix Dessert Chocolatier, reportedly because she couldn't find anything to meet her pregnancy cravings. Named 'Can't Get Knafeh Of It', a play on knafeh, a sweet dish made with kadaif, her business sells five hundred bars a day.
@mariavehera257 @fixdessertchocolatier WOW, JUST WOW!!! Can't explain how good these are! When a chocolate, a dessert and a piece of art meet this is what you get! 🍫 "Can't Get Knafeh of it," "Mind Your Own Busicoff," and "Crazy Over Caramel." Order on Instagram Chatfood or Deliveroo and let me know what's your FIX? Instagram : fixdessertchocolatier #asmr #foodsounds #dubai #dubaidessert ♬ оригинальный звук - mariavehera257
Want to try it? Hop on a plane: it's not available outside the UAE. But the rest of us can jump on the trend as the viral success of the videos has spawned plenty of home-grown versions. These have mostly been small-scale affairs sold via social media, but recently the big brands have started getting on board with the crunchy, nutty, green-filled chocolate bar. Lindt launched its 'Dubai-style chocolate' last month with Lidl following a week later. Aldi's ice-cream riff on the flavour is going in store on April 14, and no doubt there'll be plenty more to come.
But how good are they? Most don't look the part, as the original is nearly an inch (2.5cm) thick, while the mainstream dupes aren't even close. For the opulent, over-the-top, shamelessly greedy effect of the Fix bar, you'll need to head over to Instagram to order from the likes of Dubai Chocolate London. That doesn't mean the ones that are more widely available aren't worth eating – most have a decent amount of real pistachio, unlike the ersatz sweet green 'pistachio flavour' we are more used to. Here's a round-up: no manicure required.
