God. I hate when something goes viral and then every company jumps on the bandwagon with mediocre copycats. That's exactly what's happening with these so-called "Dubai-style" chocolate bars from M&S and Lindt that shoppers are absolutely tearing apart in reviews.
I actually saw that M&S one being hyped up on This Morning back in April and almost bought into teh excitement myself. Thank goodness I checked the reviews first!
£10 for glorified Kit Kat?! You've got to be kidding
Both these fancy-pants chocolate bars are getting absolutely demolished by customers on Ocado. They're literally rated WORSE than Wagon Wheels and Munchies Orange – let that sink in for a minute.
The M&S Big Daddy Pistachio (ridiculous name if you ask me) costs a whopping £8.50 and has managed to scrape together a measly 3.1 stars out of 5. Less than half of people who bought it would recommend it to others. Ouch.
But Lindt's version? Even worse.
Their Dubai-style bar is selling for an eye-watering £10 – TEN POUNDS! – and has earned a pathetic 2.8-star rating. My colleague bought one last week and her exact words were "I've never felt so ripped off by chocolate in my life."
What's with the Dubai chocolate obsession anyway?
If you've somehow missed this whole trend (lucky you), the original Dubai chocolate comes from Fix Dessert Chocolatier in the UAE. It's inspired by Knafeh – a Middle Eastern dessert with spun pastry, cheese, syrup and pistachios on top.
The concept has absolutely exploded on TikTok with over 120 million views. I spent about 2 hours down that rabbit hole last weekend... time I'll never get back.
It's gotten so popular that there's apparently an international pistachio shortage now. Seriously.
"Like eating Weetabix covered in sugar"
The reviews for these bars are absolutely brutal – and kinda hilarious. One person who bought the Lindt version said they "got sucked into the hype and spent £10 on what is essentially a Kit Kat with a very small amount of pistachio in."
Another complained it tasted like "sugary chocolate and Weetabix." Not exactly the luxury experience they were promising!
For the M&S version, one disappointed customer wrote: "This is just awful. Had high hopes this was going to be along the lines of the Dubai chocolate bar but it's just a disappointment on every level. Hardly any pistachio flavor, and it's a bit powdery and just odd. Don't bother."
Someone else complained about the lack of foil wrapping. Because nothing says luxury like questionable food hygiene, right?
The waitlist madness
Remember when Lindt first released their Dubai-style bar in December? Waitrose actually had to implement a two-bar limit per customer. People were acting like it was 2020 and we were talking about toilet paper!
I know someone who literally set an alarm to try to order one online. (She later told me she wished she'd just bought a regular Dairy Milk and saved herself £8.50.)
The whole thing reminds me of when those Stanley cups were selling out everywhere last year. My sister-in-law waited in line for 3 hours to get one, adn now it sits unused in her cupboard.
So are ANY of them worth trying?
If you're still tempted to jump on this bandwagon despite all the warnings, The Sun's consumer reporter Lynsey Hope did test a bunch of these Dubai-style chocolates.
I haven't seen her full reviews, but based on what regular shoppers are saying, you might want to save your tenner for something more worthwhile... like literally anything else.
Just wait until next month when some new food trend takes over TikTok and we can all pretend this never happened.
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