We live in an era of unchecked greed, rampant wealth inequality, and shattered political norms—but luckily we also live in an era of DUBAI CHOCOLATE EVERYTHING. Yay. The trendy chocolate confection, which consists of chocolate filled with pistachio creme and shredded phyllo dough (aka knafeh or kadayif or kataifi), has become one of 2025’s most iconic flavor profiles, rivaled only by hot honey. For a while, Dubai chocolate was hard to find; now it’s everywhere, including in the ice cream aisle.
My/Mochi recently released Dubai chocolate mochi ice cream. The squishy little balls are made with chocolate-flavored mochi dough surrounding pistachio ice cream that contains bits of chocolate and, of course, crispy knafeh. Sounds good, right? We got our hands on a box to find out if Dubai chocolate ice cream is worth UAEating.
Pros: I’m a freak for mochi ice cream. I love that you can eat it with your hands. I love the squish of mochi dough. And I really like the flavor of My/Mochi’s pistachio ice cream…but I wouldn’t really recommend this mochi ice cream if you’re expecting a true Dubai chocolate experience.
Cons: Even though the pistachio ice cream tastes good, it doesn’t taste like the pistachio creme inside a Dubai chocolate bar—it has that sweet pistachio extract flavor rather than the rich, earthy you want. Also, the chocolate mochi dough just tastes a little funky; it’s like Yoo-hoo is to chocolate milk. Lastly, you’d just really never know there was knafeh in the pistachio ice cream. The bits of chocolate are good and add some texture, but the crispy phyllo must get too soggy to make an impact. I couldn’t really detect it at all.
Howdy! I’m Gwynedd, Sporked’s managing editor. I live in Los Angeles and have access to the best tacos the U.S. has to offer—but I’m a sucker for a crunchy Old El Paso taco night every now and then. I’ve been at Sporked since 2022 and I’m still searching frozen mozzarella sticks that can hold a candle to restaurant sticks.
Why you should trust me: I’ve been a journalist for 20 years (yikes), a consumer of food for 40-plus years, and I’m truly hard pressed to think of foods I don’t like (or that I can’t tolerate at the very least). Oh and one time I cooked my way through Guy Fieri’s cookbook and wrote about the journey through Flavortown.
What I buy every week: Trader Joe’s Original Savory Thins. Fat free plain yogurt (usually Fage or Nancy’s). Honeycrisp apples. Sweet cream coffee creamer for my at-home Americanos. A frozen cauliflower crust pizza and some jarred mushrooms to top it with. Old El Paso Stand ‘N Stuff taco shells and Gardein Ground Be’f, even though I think “be’f” is a nightmarish contraction.
Favorite ranking: Stouffer’s frozen dinners. I don’t own a microwave (I get my cancers the old fashioned way!), so I love taste testing things that I don’t really buy to eat at home.
Least favorite ranking: Soy sauce. Don’t get me wrong, I love soy sauce—but consuming that much sodium in one sitting is probably illegal in some countries. Our frozen enchilada taste test was a close second; the smell of microwaved corn tortillas still haunts me.
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!
Gwynedd Stuart
Jordan Myrick
Ariana Losch
Griffin Parker
Danny Palumbo
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!