I compared Lidl's Dubai Chocolate bar to a £15 one but which one was best?

It received attention on TikTok in 2024, a few years after it was created by Sarah Hamouda of FIX Dessert Chocolatier in 2021. It combined pistachio nuts and milk chocolate alongside some Middle Eastern flavours, which caught the eye of many food reviewers. Many companies made their own version, the vast majority of which were quite expensive at around £10-£15.

However, in a change of pace, Lidl released a £3.99 version of this with the J.D.



Gross Dubai-Style Chocolate bar on their TikTok shop on March 20. A limited stock of 6,000 bars was sold out within an hour, with around 72 bars being purchased per minute, according to the supermarket. Due to its popularity, Lidl will be making the bars available to buy in its stores on Saturday, March 29.

Customers will be limited to buying two bars of the Dubai-Style Chocolate at a time in stores. Additionally, if customers are buying a bar without the Lidl Plus app, then the price of the bar is increased by £1 to £4.99.

The Dubai Chocolate bar is something I'd never tried before, and I was curious to see if the Lidl version could stack up against a more expensive one. To conduct this comparison, I was able to have a Lidl Dubai-style chocolate bar sent over. Additionally, I bought a £15.

75 Kunafa (Knafeh) & Pistachio Dubai Viral Milk Chocolate bar from Maison Samadi chocolatiers. I compared a Lidl Dubai Chocolate bar to a £15 one In terms of price, Lidl's version of the Dubai Chocolate bar was a lot cheaper compared to the Maison Samadi version. At £3.

99, it is £11.76 cheaper than Mason Samadi's £15.75 bar.

Additionally, Lidl's bar offers slightly more at 122g compared to Mason Samadi's at 110g. However, the real determining factor in the quality is how the bars taste, so I gave them a try. Lidl's was up first and was certainly quite sweet, being made out of milk chocolate.

From what I'd seen from people's videos trying the regular Dubai Chocolate bar, the pistachio paste inside looked quite sloppy. Thankfully, Lidl's version was much better in that regard and complimented the chocolate casing. There was some wafer inside as well, giving it a bit of crunch, which my brother likened to Kinder when he tried some afterwards.

Despite all these positives, the actual taste for me was just fine, and it wasn't something I would exactly be encouraged to eat a whole bar of. Mason Samadi's bar was up next and was seemingly made out of darker chocolate. Additioally, it had some artistic stylings on the chocolate, which is similar to the bar that went viral on TikTok.

Overall, it had a slightly more bitter taste compared to the Lidl version and offered some crunch as well. In terms of an overall verdict, I'm honestly struggling to pick a winner here. Both of them were quite underwhelming for me, but that might come down to me on a personal level.

Pistachio and chocolate is not a combination I've really had before, and on paper, it sounded like something I would enjoy. However, in practice, that perhaps didn't prove to be the case, making it hard to judge. If you're looking for a sweet version of the Dubai Chocolate bar, then Lidl's version is better in that respect.

Additionally, at a far cheaper cost, it is much better value for money if you're looking for a specific item like this..