Review: Hershey's Dubai-Inspired Chocolate Bar Misses The Mark On Luxury — But You Should Try It Anyway

Every so often, a food craze plows its way across the internet, transcending cultural boundaries and bringing people together just by being particularly, historically delicious. In recent years, we've experienced the rise of unique foods like whipped dalgona coffee and fluffy, vibrant cloud bread. Meanwhile, folks around the world started topping everything from eggs to ice cream with Chinese chili crisp. When something tastes so good (and looks photogenic to boot), it's hard to resist the contemporary, visceral urge to blast it all over social media.

A few years ago, a sweet treat appeared on the scene, falling victim to the internet's fad food frenzy. It's known throughout the world as Dubai chocolate — maybe you've heard of it. It took the food world by storm, going as far as to inspire a luxurious Shake Shack shake and a decadent Crumbl cheesecake cookie.

Chocolate powerhouse Hershey's recently hopped aboard the Dubai chocolate bandwagon and unveiled its own version of the viral sensation. I got my hands on a couple of the limited-edition bars so I could dish about the new candy's flavor and texture and see how it stacks up against the real deal. So let's break it open, take a bite, and find out whether Hershey's contribution to the hype is worth it, or just another cheap imitation of a modern candy legend.

Some recommendations are based on firsthand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by the manufacturer.

The original Dubai chocolate was created in 2022 by FIX Dessert Chocolatier in its eponymous emirate in order to quell the creator's pregnancy cravings. It was originally known as "Can't Get Knafeh Of It" after its likeness to knafeh, a festive Middle Eastern dessert. When a TikTok influencer got her hands on the chocolate bar and shared a video, it went insanely viral, and the rest was history. The original bar is made with milk chocolate filled with tahini, pistachio cream, and crispy kadayif. Hershey's is attempting to recreate the cult classic in its Dubai-Inspired Chocolate Bar, but with its own unique touch.

It's rare to find Dubai chocolate outside of Dubai — and that includes the U.S. — most likely because our tastes are quite different from those in the UAE. For example, you won't find tahini in a traditional American dessert. That's why some companies give Dubai chocolate a twist to appeal more to American taste buds, hence the "Dubai-inspired" description. But this version isn't too far off from the OG: It's made with Hershey's iconic milk chocolate, creamy pistachio, and real kadayif crunch. Hershey's version doesn't include tahini, so it relies on the decadence in the pistachio filling and chocolate to help this treat stack up against famously rich, luxurious Dubai chocolate.

On December 4, 2025, Hershey's started selling its new Dubai-Inspired Chocolate Bar. The bad news is, availability is incredibly limited — only 10,000 bars have been made. The bars became available for purchase at Hershey's Chocolate World in Times Square, and — in true viral sensation fashion — had folks lining up down the entire block starting at 7 a.m. If you missed the Times Square event, the chocolate bars are also for sale online via Gopuff, but only serving New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago.

Nutrition-wise, Hershey's Dubai-inspired chocolate clocks in at 5 grams of fat (3 grams of which are saturated fat), 11 grams of carbs, 11 grams of sugar, 1 gram of protein, and 90 calories per serving. One serving makes up 30 grams, or a third of the chocolate bar. Surprisingly, a 30-gram serving of a traditional Hershey's chocolate bar actually contains more fat, sugar, and calories.

Fortunately, Hershey's recreation of the most luxurious candy of the decade doesn't come with a Dubai-inspired price tag. The bars are priced at $8.99 a pop, a significant increase from a plain old Hershey's bar but far cheaper than Dubai chocolate, which can cost $50 for a single bar.

As soon as I pulled the gold foil-wrapped candy bar out of the Hershey's-branded box, I felt like Charlie Bucket, golden ticket in tow. Peeling back the foil revealed a candy bar that's much thicker than a traditional Hershey's bar and, therefore, a lot more worthy of sinking your teeth into. The first bite gave me a rush of nostalgic Halloween memories. (I always traded my fruity candy for plain Hershey's bars.) The chocolate was unmistakably Hershey's through and through, but this ended up hindering the Dubai-inspired taste, rather than adding to it.

Onto the most important aspect of Dubai-style chocolate: the filling. Hershey's absolutely nailed both the flavor and texture of the viral candy's filling, despite this filling not containing any tahini. (That's okay — not all Dubai chocolate sold in the U.S. contains tahini.) It does, however, include kadayif pastry (commonly referred to as shredded phyllo dough), which gives the chocolate bar just the right amount of crunch. I wouldn't call the candy bar crunchy, per se, but the kadayif adds enough crispiness to make the smooth, decadent pistachio cream pop against the creamy chocolate — texture-wise, anyway.

The pistachio cream's mouthfeel is just like that of an actual Dubai chocolate bar, although its flavor gets lost. Hershey's milk chocolate is famously sweet and milky, and it wound up drowning out the pistachio cream, which had an incredibly mild, gentle flavor.

Overall, Hershey's new Dubai-Inspired Chocolate Bar is a decadent treat that any pistachio fan would be happy to munch on, especially during the holidays. The candy's velvety smooth texture and richness gave it a distinct Christmas vibe, so this launch couldn't have been timed more appropriately. However, I take issue with the chocolate chosen to wrap the pistachio and kadayif in; it was like a Christmas present you've been waiting all year for wrapped in an old, wet newspaper.

The intensely milky and vividly sweet flavor of Hershey's milk chocolate has its place in some treats, but it isn't a great pairing with pistachio cream. The candy needed something a little bitter and savory to act as a backdrop for the nutty, sweet, creamy ingredients to play against. Maybe it needed that tahini after all, or maybe robust dark chocolate would have been a better choice to make the pistachio cream really pop. Regardless of these qualms, $8.99 is a fair price to pay for a little taste of Dubai, even if you can tell it's not exactly the real thing.