Dubious About Dubai Bars? Make This Manila Bar Instead

Chef Daniel Corpuz joined ICE's renowned faculty as Creative Director and Chocolatier this month. He is a celebrated baking and pastry arts professional and the owner of Daniel Corpuz Chocolatier. Following a passion for pastry and baking in high school, Chef Daniel graduated from the Culinary Institute of America then honed his craft in the pastry kitchens of several celebrated New York City restaurants — among them The Modern, One White Street and Manhatta.

When COVID forced the city’s restaurants to close, Chef Daniel began experimenting with chocolate at home. This led to an appearance on The Food Network’s ‘School of Chocolate,’ successful pop-ups in NYC, and ultimately, a brick-and-mortar shop in Chinatown. (The latter, pictured below, opened just two months ago.)

 

 

 

 

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Chef Daniel draws on his Filipino heritage and industry experience to infuse Asian flavors into his confections, and that’s exactly how he created the Manila Bar — his take on the trendy Dubai chocolate bar. 

So, what does Chef Daniel think of the Dubai Bar? Conceptually, he’s a fan.

“The Dubai Bar plays up what people love when it comes to desserts: chocolate, nuts and crunch — that’s the main concept of it,” he said. It’s a dark chocolate bar with a filling made of pistachio nut paste, white chocolate and kataifi or knafeh.

Developed in 2022 by a pastry chef in Dubai, the bar’s popularity soared in 2024 when TikTok users began sharing images highlighting its vibrant hue and textured layers. More than a year later, it continues selling out despite its hefty price (upwards of $20 a pop). It’s so popular, in fact, that chocolatiers throughout the world and retail brands like Trader Joe’s and Chip City have all launched their own versions of the tasty treat. 

So if the bar is that good — and trust me, it is — why does Chef Daniel have reservations about it?

Like the bar itself, the answer is layered and nuanced.

First, it’s a business issue. Chef Daniel’s chocolate shop has an Asian-forward sweets' menu, with flavors like ube, pandan and calamansi featuring prominently in his creations. These flavors pair well with the Dubai Bar, which is why, at the height of its popularity, Chef Daniel’s shop was fielding near daily phone calls from chocolate-lovers eager to buy one. Chef Daniel couldn’t oblige.

His shop is small, he explained, and has just 18 “feature slots” for promoting his own confections. Selling the Dubai Bar would mean displacing one of his own, and with offerings like the lychee pink peppercorn and kumquat jasmine bar, you can see Chef Daniel’s quandary. (Translation: I’ve got a business and a brand and my brand centers on Asian flavors.)  

 

 

 

 

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Second, it’s a matter of expectations. Chef Daniel worries that the flavors customers expect in a Dubai Bar are used as the basis for its value (i.e. “This chocolate bar is wildly expensive, but it’s made with three wildly expensive ingredients so it’s worth it”). In short, prospective Dubai Bar customers have been sufficiently exposed to its value proposition, and can now justify its cost based on that proposition.

But, as someone who sells premium chocolates, Chef Daniel also knows that arriving at an understanding of that value proposition can be tough.

“If I were to recreate the Dubai Bar, I would use Valrhona chocolate and pistachios from Sicily or Iran,” says Chef Daniel. These ingredients, like those in the Dubai Bar, are high-quality and expensive. They’re also less well-known than those in the Dubai Bar, making it hard to convince skeptical shoppers of their value. 

Third, bad actors are exploiting the Dubai Bar craze — and harming the chocolate industry as a whole. An unpleasant side effect of the Dubai Bar's popularity, says Chef Daniel, is the proliferation of Dubai Bars that use lower quality ingredients while charging higher quality prices. This muddies the waters on value perception and harming consumer trust. 

Additionally, some businesses make fewer than 20 bars a day, the result of which is a heightened perception of scarcity, which in turn, inflates the bar’s price.

Fourth, when three ingredients and/or a single product define a country's cuisine, the vastness and variety of its food culture gets lost.  For Chef Daniel, who made his own version of the TikTok trending chocolate using traditional Filipino flavors (calling it The Manila Bar), the Dubai Bar frenzy could be reductive if those buying it are unfamiliar with Dubai and its food history.  

“[My way] is not the only way to make a Manila Bar,” says Chef Daniel, pointing to the wide variety of Filipino flavors not included in his recipe. He hopes that consumers don’t make the same assumptions as he believes they’ve done with the Dubai Bar; in short, reducing a country’s cuisine to a mere three ingredients.

So what’s the big deal about Dubai Bars?

A chocolate “crunch bar” is nothing new, says Chef Daniel, who, though not an acolyte of the Dubai Bar, acknowledges that its popularity has had some benefits. Specifically, it’s infused the confectionery industry with a dose of creativity, summoning chocolatiers to answer the call, “What exciting thing can you make with chocolate, nuts and crunch?” 

For Chef Daniel, the answer is the Manila Bar, which honors his heritage and feels right for the moment. (Philippines Independence Day is Thursday, June 12.)  

• For the nut element, he made a cashew-macadamia praline – because both nuts are grown in the Philippines.
• For the crunch, he used green and beige pinipig, a flattened young rice grown in the Philippines and common in Filipino desserts.
• Dark chocolate provides the bar’s shell and dark milk chocolate comprises the filling.

Chef Daniel sells a version of this Manila Bar at his store, which incorporates dried mango and is in the shape of the araw (sun) on the Filipino flag.

You Can Make It At Home
One reason the Dubai Bar has been so popular, concedes Chef Daniel, is that it’s an easy chocolate confection to make at home. His Manila Bar recipe kicks it up a notch, but you’re in for a treat if you give it a shot.