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A city-by-city guide to buying the viral Dubai pistachio-kunafa chocolate across South India — without the Gulf-returning relative, the grey-market markup, or the sold-out frustration.
Faaro Editorial
Editor
So you have seen the videos, you understand what Dubai chocolate actually is, and now you want one in your hand — without booking a flight to the UAE or paying a reseller three times the price. The good news: in 2026 you no longer need a contact in the Gulf. Here is the honest, city-by-city guide to getting a proper pistachio-kunafa bar across South India.
For most people, the third route is now the obvious one. You get the same snap-and-ooze experience, fresher, at a fair price, with a clear ingredient list — and it reaches your door in a few days.
Chennai's appetite for novelty desserts is enormous, and pistachio is already woven into the city's sweet vocabulary through pista kulfi and badam-pista milk. Faaro ships pistachio-kunafa bars to Chennai and across Tamil Nadu, typically within a few working days. No more hoping a Gulf-returning cousin remembers your order.
Bengaluru's dessert scene moves fast, and the city's young, food-forward crowd drove a lot of the early Dubai-chocolate searches in India. Doorstep delivery across Bengaluru means you skip the boutique markups and the sold-out-in-minutes frustration that defined the trend's early days.
Hyderabad knows a thing or two about indulgent, nut-forward sweets — this is the city of qubani ka meetha and rich, festive desserts. A pistachio-kunafa bar slots naturally into that culture of generous, celebratory sweetness. Faaro delivers across Hyderabad and the Telugu states.
Kerala has perhaps the deepest personal connection to 'Dubai' anything, thanks to decades of family ties to the Gulf. For years, the only way to taste this bar was to wait for someone to fly home. Now you can order a fresh pistachio-kunafa bar to Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode and across Kerala directly — the same crunch-loving instinct behind Kerala's banana chips, in chocolate form.
Quality checklist before you buy any pistachio-kunafa bar: (1) real pistachio listed high in the ingredients, not just 'flavour'; (2) genuine kunafa/kataifi pastry for the crunch; (3) clear manufacturing and expiry dates; (4) proper allergen labelling for nuts, milk and wheat; (5) a seller who ships in protective, temperature-aware packaging.
Faaro's Pista Bianca ticks every box — a 56g bar made in small batches with real pistachio, smooth milk chocolate, and shards of golden, oven-crisped kunafa. There is also a white chocolate version for those who prefer a softer, sweeter profile.
Part of why grey-market Dubai chocolate felt outrageous was the import markup — you were paying for someone's baggage allowance as much as the chocolate. An Indian-made bar with genuine ingredients removes that premium entirely. You pay for real pistachio and real craft, not for air freight.
If you are gifting rather than just treating yourself, the same bars make a striking centrepiece for an Onam or Diwali hamper — a little piece of the viral moment, delivered to your door.
The wait for a Gulf-returning relative is over. The bar that broke the internet is now a few clicks and a few days away, wherever in South India you happen to be.
Ready to taste it? Order Faaro's pistachio-kunafa bars online with delivery across South India. Free shipping on orders above Rs 499.
The most reliable route is to order from a brand that manufactures the bar in India and ships direct, which keeps it fresh and avoids import markup. Premium supermarkets and gift shops in Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kochi also stock it, though availability moves with demand.
Imported bars resold in India typically carry a heavy markup over their Gulf retail price once freight and reseller margin are added. Bars made in India sell for a fraction of that because there is no import chain, and they reach you fresher.
Look for a filling that is visibly two components — pistachio cream and separate golden strands of toasted kataifi pastry. A uniformly smooth green filling with no visible pastry is a pistachio spread, not a kunafa bar. The bar should also be thick enough to hold a substantial filling layer.
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