‘Dubai chocolate’ pistachio trend reaches Hong Kong, with nut added to traditional snacks

‘Dubai chocolate’ frenzy has pistachios trending globally. In Hong Kong, bakeries have used the nut in traditional pastries and snacks

Reading Time:5 minutes

A tray of pistachio siu beng (toasted glutinous rice pancakes) at Kadorar Bakery, in Jordan, Hong Kong. Many of the city’s bakers are featuring the popular nut in traditional snacks. Photo: Alice Chan

Published: 7:15am, 6 Feb 2025Updated: 10:10am, 6 Feb 2025

We are well into 2025 but the pistachio frenzy of 2024 shows no signs of subsiding.

This is thanks largely to the global sensation that is the Can’t Get Knafeh It chocolate bar, commonly known as Dubai chocolate, which combines a rich pistachio cream filling with crunchy kataifi pastry.

Going nuts for pistachio is not confined to bakery display cases: its hues have been spotted on 2025 spring/summer fashion catwalks and red carpets from Los Angeles to London, and cult fragrance brand D.S. & Durga bottled the essence of the humble nut in a US$210 perfume.

With the amount of pistachio we have seen, it is amazing it was not named Pantone’s Colour of the Year.

Pistachios are called hoi sum guo (happy nut) in Cantonese because they look like they are smiling. Photo: Shutterstock

Pistachio has dominated social media feeds recently in Hong Kong, too. In a city where no food is too niche to have its own Facebook concern group, you can bet there is one for pistachio people.

Created in October 2021, the Hong Kong Pistachio Concern Group currently has 78,000 members. The community mostly posted about Western-style confectioneries and desserts until last year, when there was a noticeable shift to members talking about pistachio-flavoured takes on traditional Chinese pastries and Hong Kong street snacks.