UK shoppers are complaining about the current 'Dubai chocolate' trend and have asked why the bars are so expensive. The trend has become popular on social media site TikTok and refers to a chunky chocolate bar filled with pistachio cream and crispy kataifi pastry.

One shopper asked on social platform Reddit why the product is so more expensive than regular chocolate. They claim that the bars are "five times the price of regular pistachio chocolate".

Odegood posted: "Who started this Duba chocolate cr** and why are they 5x the price of regular pistachio chocolate. Seeing it everywhere bought a small bar out of curiosity and even that was £2. Why are they so expensive when regular pistachio chocolate isn't much more than regular chocolate?"

Over 370 people have commented on the post, with some agreeing that the trend won't last long. One person compared it to the Prime drink trend, fueled by YouTuers KSI and Logan Pual, in 2023.

OrdinaryQuestions said: "Trended on TikTok. So stores started quickly getting it to jump in on the hype and put extortionate prices on."

Justsomerandomguy35 added: "People see the word Dubai and think glitz and glam. It’s a bang average chocolate and you can make it easily if you wanted to. Unfortunately bit of a fad that’s been hyped up. Imagine it’ll be in everything sweet you can think of - bit like biscoff and Nutella."

MrKoopla wrote: "It’s the Prime drink all over again. Wait until 2027 when home bargains has specials baskets full of them for £1.10 each." Difficult_Listen_917 agreed: "It's the new prime faze, its been on TikTok, it will be dead in a couple of weeks and back to £1 a bar."

Other people pointed out that the chocolate is simply more expensive as it costs more to make. Markhalliday 8 commented: "It costs significantly more to make. Pistachio butter is very expensive."

Other_Exercise asked: "Have you bought pistachios? The ingredients are quite expensive." Confused_mani said: "The pistachio creme used is quite expensive and hard to come by due to the craze, and bars made by locals tend to be very thick (i.e more filling) so that explains the high cost…to some extent."

BlueLeaves 8 commented: "The pricier ones are pricey for a reason, pistachio cream is expensive."

The reaction comes after Waitrose had to limit the amount of Dubai Style Chocolate bars to two per person due to its surge in popularity. The store sells the chocolate for £10 per bar.

Signs in-store now read: "No more than 2 bars per person please… because we want everyone to have the chance to enjoy our delicious chocolate. Thank for your understanding."

A spokesman for Waitrose told The Grocer: "Due to the incredible popularity of this product, we want to make sure that as many customers as possible have the opportunity to try it." The chocolate bars, which feature pistachio and kadayif pastry, were launched in the UK in December in response to the viral TikTok trend.