Whilst I didn’t try every single shop in Bolton, I spent the best part of two hours looking for the pistachio and knafeh-filled chocolate bars.
If you’re like me, you may be wondering what knafeh, also known as kanafeh, is.
Knafeh is a traditional Arab dessert made with spun pastry dough layered with cheese and soaked in a sweet, sugar-based syrup.
The Dubai chocolate bar, which encompasses pistachio and knafeh enveloped in rich milk chocolate, became a viral sensation following a TikTok video.
All of the bars available in the UK are inspired by the original Dubai chocolate bar.
Having seen online that some discount stores sold the bars, I tried Bolton’s Home Bargains and Poundland to no avail.
I also received a tip-off that Morrison’s in Bolton sold them, but despite my best efforts, I couldn’t find them there.
I had my best luck in convenience shops and newsagents, especially around the Deane Road area.
Kandylicious on Deane Road stocks the bars, priced at £10 per bar.
Newsagent Convenience Store Mobile Phone & Vape Shop (MD Bolton Ltd Newsagent) on Newport Street also sells the bars at £2.99 each or two for £5.
Though closed when I visited, drive-thru patisserie Dujour Bakehouse on Vicarage Street sells the Dubai chocolate in multiple forms.
According to their website, Dujour sell multiple kinds of the Dubai chocolate and offer UK-wide shipping.
Dujour offers a Knafeh Bar for £10, Pistachio Knafeh Spread for £10 and Kinder Knafeh Spread for £11. They also sell a Hybrid Pistachio Knafeh & Bruce Bar for £10.
They claim that their most popular offering is the Pistachio Knafeh Brownie Tin priced at £9.
Chocoberry, a dessert café on Deane Road, boasts a Dubai Viral Knafeh Range which includes the famous Dubai chocolate bar priced at just under £20.
Other sweet treats in the range include a Pistachio Knafeh Dream Cake and a Knafeh Brownie.
Given the viral chocolate’s popularity online, I decided to ask some young people what they thought of the trend.
Isobel, 21, said she is easily influenced by trends she sees on social media.
She said: “The Dubai chocolate bars are all over my feed. I haven’t tried one because, like a lot of fads, they’re massively overhyped.”
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Jay, 28, said he doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth, so is less likely to be swayed by the marketing around Dubai knafeh bars. However, other food trends, such as the craze for birria tacos a few years ago, struck a chord.
He said: “I ate loads of birria tacos at the time.”
Dan, 27, tried a bar after seeing them repeatedly plastered all over his social media feed.
He doesn’t think it was worth the hype.
Dan said: “It was a lot crunchier than I expected, but then again, I think I bought a cheap version.”
Ben, 24, actively avoids buying anything that becomes a social media phenomenon.