I had not until I took Bob's son to a Mediterranean market for a falafel wrap a few weeks ago. They had these bars on the counter whose wrapper showed a generous pistachio center, Barry said oh Ivy (his daughter) loves pistachio and I said here I'll buy one for you to take back to her (he lives in Texas). It was a 400 g bar, and cost about $12.
When he got home he wrote to tell me that Ivy just about passed out when she saw it. She'd been hearing all about it on TikTok (or one of those) and never thought she'd see one in the real. She took it to school to show it off to and share with friends. A huge success, apparently. Neither of us had any idea.
Not less than two hours later I logged into a French food group on Facebook that I belong to, wherein most participants are French, Belgian or British and living in France, and there was a post from a Brit expat in Paris asking, "Has anyone ever heard of Dubai chocolate?" Apparently most had because somehow the whole idea has gone viral though most hadn't tasted one yet and some said it likely they wouldn't pop for any as it's very expensive.
And then last Saturday I walked into my local chocolatier to buy a bunny and some eggs for Easter dinner and guess what they had on the counter--their own version of Dubai chocolate bars, prompted by the avalanche of phone calls they'd received asking for same. They said they likely wouldn't continue making it as its very labor intensive, but they wanted to try it out all the same.
I even bought a bar to try, much as most of you know I don't care for sweets let alone chocolate in particular.
Haven't opened it yet so no report, but I was just so amused by the way my awareness of this came about. I can't remember knowing of anything else that "went viral" and had proof--on an international basis no less--land in my lap the way this has.
Any first-hand experience?