Maybe it’s its bright green interior or the satisfying crunch it makes when broken in half, but the “Dubai candy bar” has gone viral on social media this summer, with influencers around the world creating their own Reels, Stories and TikToks promoting the expensive and trendy treat.
It all started with Fix Dessert Chocolatier, according to a CNN article, a Dubai-based company founded by Sarah Hamouda. Since influencers caught wind of her creations, she and her company have been featured in news publications around the world.
In the United States, word of the Dubai candy bar is spreading from coast to coast, and local bakeries and candy shops have jumped on the bandwagon, making it their own way, and some can’t keep it in stock. Most sell the large chocolate bar for $25, and it has to be refrigerated. Each store says it makes it a little differently.
One of the first places to carry it in Michigan was Farhat Sweets, located on East Big Beaver Road in Troy. Several attempts to stop by and buy one failed because the store sells out by early afternoon. We air-freighted it the next day for an extra $38, but it didn’t ship for another week and arrived on ice packs.
Richard Farhat said the trend started in March, during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, with people trying it on camera, which spread across social media and quickly became hard to ignore.
The chocolate bar is made with shredded phyllo dough, pistachio pieces, chocolate and tahini, a sesame condiment commonly used in hummus.
After refrigeration, the bar is sprinkled with a touch of edible art, including gold “luster dust” and glitter. Each bar is made and decorated by hand.
The Farhat bar certainly looks like a treasure in its shiny packaging and rainbow sprinkles and gold splashes on the milk chocolate bar, which measures about 7 inches wide and a good inch thick. The texture is reminiscent of a Kit Kat bar, but with a nuttier flavor and a hint of natural sweetness. It’s definitely unique and appealing.
“It’s a real headache (to keep up with demand),” Farhat told Local 4 last week. “Our distributors haven’t been able to keep up with us, so we’re ordering from everywhere to keep up with demand.”
“Don’t just show up, call before 11am and we will fill orders because we sell every day,” he said.
Our interns’ opinions
The Detroit News typically hosts eight interns each summer across departments. This week, we asked them when a trend becomes newsworthy. Almost instantly, intern Aya Fayad said, “Dubai chocolate is everywhere.” When we surprised them with one, the room filled with excitement as their task was to honestly evaluate and rate it out of 10.
The average rating given by interns is 6.95 out of 10, with most agreeing that it is an interesting product that can be addictive, but perhaps not worth the price.
“It’s a treat to try once, but the richness is a little overwhelming,” Eleanor Whitaker said. “However, it’s my new favorite way to eat pistachios.”
Some of the trainees were already familiar with the little green nut—one even said it reminded him of his childhood—but others had never eaten it before. They described its texture as “crazy,” “wild,” and “mushy.”
“As a picky eater, I enjoyed the texture and the average taste was very good,” said Hannah Gillery, adding that the nuts tasted fresh and the chocolate flavor wasn’t too strong.
Where You Can Taste a Piece of Dubai in Metro Detroit
Palm Candy in Sterling Heights
In many cases, like Palm Sweets, business owners do not advertise that they offer candy bars on their official websites or menus. Palm Sweets is located at 3605 15 Mile in Sterling Heights. This bar cannot be ordered in advance or shipped.
Choco Mania in Birmingham and Sterling Heights
Chocomania, located in Birmingham city centre, opened last month and features the largest chocolate bar in Dubai, the world’s largest.
Their stores also sell smaller, traditional versions of Dubai’s pistachio-flavored chocolate bars.
The House of Chimney Cakes in Dearborn
The shop, located at 22737 Michigan Ave. in Dearborn, typically makes its own unique dessert called “chimney cakes,” a cone-shaped cake. In addition, they’ve started making different flavors of Dubai candy bars, including a strawberry cotton candy flavor and a cookie butter flavor. Each bar costs $25.
They also offer four different variations of bars including a mini flavour gift box, a Dubai Chocolate Sundae and a Dubai Chocolate Crepe.
“Attention: Our Dubai Chocolates are selling out fast! Please be patient with us as we work to restock them. Thank you for your understanding! For XL bars and gift boxes, we are only doing pre-orders. For everything else, you can order them on site only!”
Galata Candy in Dearborn
This Turkish restaurant and cafe offers a candy bar-sized version of Dubai chocolate made by Treats to Love. Find Galata Sweets at 1035 Mason in Dearborn.
Other types of chocolate flavors from Dubai
This trend has encouraged other companies to create their own unique twist.
Booza Delight, located at 25038 W. Warren St. in Dearborn Heights, is known for its stretchy ice cream and since incorporating the Dubai Chocolate Ice Cream Bar, they briefly had to close the store earlier this month to reset, restock, and publicly apologize to customers for any bad experiences they may have had. The store has reopened daily from 1 p.m. to midnight
Masri Sweets in Dearborn
Masri Sweets, the home of Kunafa, has transformed the candy bar made up of many similar kunafa flavors into chocolate and pistachio pyramids. They sell for $10 each. The shop is located at 5755 Schaefer Road in Dearborn.
The Custard Co. (several branches)
And why not in a custard? Ask for the garnished Dubai cone at their Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, Canton, Little Caesars Arena, Madison Heights and Southgate stores (coming soon).
Supporting a local business is of course the best decision, but Amazon also has a version of this viral candy bar. The reviews aren’t great, though, and with shipping, it’ll set you back $50.
