If you’ve been on social media in the past year, you’ve probably seen it: a thick chocolate bar broken open to reveal a bright green, crunchy, pistachio-packed filling that practically spills onto the table. That’s Dubai chocolate — and it’s gone from Middle Eastern specialty to global food trend almost overnight.
Here’s everything you need to know about it, including where to find it right here in the Bay Area.
What Is Dubai Chocolate?
Dubai chocolate — sometimes called the Dubai Bar or pistachio kanafeh chocolate — is a chocolate bar filled with a mixture of pistachio cream and kataifi, a fine, shredded phyllo pastry that crisps up beautifully inside the shell. The combination of rich chocolate, creamy pistachio, and that irresistible crunch is what makes it so addictive.
The trend exploded after a video by Dubai-based food influencer Maria Vehera went viral in 2023, racking up tens of millions of views. The bar she featured — made by Fix Dessert Chocolatier — was nearly impossible to buy outside the UAE for months. That scarcity only made people want it more.
What Makes It So Good?
Kataifi pastry. This is the key ingredient most people have never heard of. Kataifi is a fine, thread-like shredded wheat dough used in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean sweets. When it’s toasted and mixed with pistachio cream, it keeps its crunch inside the chocolate shell — giving you a texture unlike any candy bar you’ve had before.
Pistachio cream. Not pistachio-flavored, but real pistachio paste — intensely nutty, slightly sweet, and naturally green. The good stuff is made from high-quality Sicilian or Turkish pistachios.
Dark chocolate shell. The contrast between the bitter chocolate exterior and the sweet, nutty filling is what makes the flavor so balanced. You get complexity, not just sweetness.
How We Make Ours at Hanna’s
Hanna was among the first chocolatiers in the Bay Area to make Dubai chocolate — and the response was immediate. Lines out the door, sell-outs within hours, and features in KRON4 News, SFGate, and Diablo Magazine followed soon after. If you tried Dubai chocolate in the East Bay early on, there’s a good chance it was from Hanna’s.
What sets our recipe apart is the filling. Where most versions use a single pistachio cream, we use two types of pistachio cream layered together — each contributing a different texture and depth of pistachio flavor. Combined with toasted kataifi pastry and our couverture chocolate shells, it’s a richer, more complex bite than anything you’ll find pre-packaged.
Our Dubai Chocolate Lineup
We’ve expanded well beyond just the bar. Here’s what we currently offer (availability varies by season — call ahead or follow us on Instagram):
Dubai Bar — Our original. Dark or milk chocolate shell with a double pistachio cream and kataifi filling. Available in-store while supplies last.
Dubai Bon Bons (Milk & Dark) — All the flavor of the bar in a handpainted single-bite bon bon. Part of our permanent signature collection, available in gift boxes of 2 to 24 pieces.
Dubai Mini Bars — A smaller format for snacking or sampling. Great for gift bags and party favors.
Dubai Macarons — French macarons with pistachio kanafeh filling. Crisp shell, chewy center, that distinctive crunch — in macaron form.
Dubai Easter Eggs (seasonal) — A personal favorite. Hollow chocolate eggs filled with our pistachio kanafeh filling, available each spring. These go fast — follow us on Instagram or join our email list to know when they drop.
Please note: All Dubai products contain gluten (kataifi pastry) and pistachios. Not suitable for nut allergies.
Where to Buy Dubai Chocolate in the Bay Area
The original Fix Dessert Chocolatier bars from Dubai are still largely unavailable in the US, and knockoff versions vary wildly in quality — many use pistachio-flavored filling without real kataifi, which misses the whole point.
For an authentic experience, made fresh by one of the Bay Area’s earliest Dubai chocolate makers:
Hanna’s Chocolates
4825 Hopyard Road, Pleasanton, CA 94588
Tue–Fri 12–6 PM · Sat 11 AM–4 PM
(925) 587-8050
Named one of Yelp’s Top 50 Chocolate Shops in the Bay Area (#8). Our Dubai products have been featured in KRON4 News, SFGate, and Diablo Magazine.