Bargain supermarket unveils first ‘Dubai-style ice cream’ as shoppers go mad for viral chocolate selling out everywhere
A BARGAIN supermarket has unveiled the first “Dubai-style ice cream” as shoppers go mad for the viral chocolate selling out everywhere.
The decadent ice cream combines rich chocolate with a “sweet and nutty” pistachio and wafer.
As the “first of its kind to be available in any UK supermarket”, the much-anticipated ice cream will hit Aldi stores on 14 April.
For just £3.99 fans will be rushing to get their hands on this new iteration of the much loved chocolate bar.
Inspired by the growing social media sensation that is the Dubai chocolate bar, which has surpassed hundreds of millions of views on TikTok, the ice cream is sure to fly off the shelves.
The supermarket giant’s own brand Dubai style ice cream follows Lidl, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Ocado’s take on the creamy desert.
Viral sensation
Dubai Chocolate might just be one of the most bonkers food crazes the UK has ever seen.
They are gooey, crunchy bars bursting with a filling of pistachio cream and knafeh — a traditional Arab dessert.
And, despite coming it at around 525 calories per 100g, they’ve made us lose our heads a bit, with a little help from TikTok.
The original Dubai bar cost around £16 and supermarkets have had to impose limits on how many one person can buy, while someone on eBay is selling five bars for more than £200.
Even Brooklyn Beckham has chipped in with a video tutorial on how to make the stuff at home.
But its origins are more humble than you might think.
Sarah Hamouda, a British-Egyptian technical services engineer based in Dubai was halfway through her second pregnancy when she started to get cravings for the knafeh her mother used to make.
She then started dreaming about what it would be like to have a chocolate bar filled with the dessert.
So Sarah started experimenting in her kitchen.
She enlisted the help of Nouel Catis Omamalin, a top Paris-trained pastry chef working in Dubai, and together they trialled versions until they had exactly what they wanted — and the Dubai chocolate the world would soon go crazy for was born.
The bar named Can’t Get Knafeh Of It launched in 2022 and things started slowly until they sent samples to Dubai-based social media influencers.
Viewers on TikTok were transfixed by videos of people tucking into the stuff, slowly breaking away pieces to reveal the creamy mixture within.
Sarah and Nouel, who were still making the bars by hand, began being flooded with orders to the point where they had to cap sales at 500 bars a day.
Now, Fix, their company, has more than 380,000 followers on TikTok and more than 1.5million likes across their posts.
The #DubaiChocolate hashtag has more than 330,000 videos under it on the app while hundreds of influencers have gone viral giving a review.
CHOCS AWAY I’ve tried viral Dubai Chocolate dupes – supermarket brand winner was just like real thing and was third of the price
IF you can’t get your hands on the real deal, The Sun’s Tom Bryden has reviewed of some of the pistachio and chocolate offerings from the high street that don’t cost an arm and a leg.
Here he compares six rivals that come in at less than £10 a piece, and gives them scores out of five. Read more here.
J.D. Gross Dubai Style Chocolate £4.99, 122g, Lidl – 5/5
GREAT value for a bar that delivers the real Dubai chocolate flavour and in a size that won’t leave you feeling short changed.
The Middle Eastern-inspired packaging and golden foil wrapper add to the luxury feel.
Pistachio Chocolate Selector £5.45, 72g, Hotel Chocolat – 3/5
THOUGH not branded as a Dubai chocolate alternative, the Pistachio Chocolate Selector can certainly hold up as one.
The standout here is the chocolate coating which tasted the best of them all, though it slightly overpowered the pistachio centre.
Ombar Pistachio Cream £2.15 – 42g, Waitrose – 3/5