In the kitchen
None of these steps is exotic. What makes the bar difficult is how little room there is in each of them, and how fast the whole thing falls apart if the pastry is rushed.
Long pastry strands are trimmed by hand so every square gets the same crunch.
Kataifi arrives as fine, hair-thin strands of pastry. Left long, it tangles and gives you one chewy mouthful and one empty one. We cut it down to roughly a fingernail in length before anything else happens, which is slow and unglamorous work, but it is the reason the texture is even from the first square to the last.
Turned constantly over low heat until it stops sounding soft and starts sounding dry.
The cut pastry goes into warm clarified butter and is turned continuously until it darkens to a deep amber. We go by sound as much as colour. Underdone kataifi turns to paste the moment it meets the filling; taken too far it tastes scorched and bitter against the milk chocolate. The window is narrow and it is judged by hand, every batch.
Ground pistachio, a little tahini, and a pinch of salt, folded warm so nothing goes flat.
We grind pistachios to a loose paste and loosen it with a small amount of tahini, which stops the filling from setting hard in the fridge and adds a savoury edge underneath the sweetness. Salt goes in at this stage. The toasted kataifi is folded through while still warm, quickly, so the strands coat without collapsing.
Brought up, cooled on the slab, and brought back. No shortcuts, because the snap depends on it.
The couverture is melted, poured onto a cool slab, worked until it thickens, then returned to gentle heat and held. Tempering is what gives the shell its gloss and its clean snap, and it is also what lets the bar survive a Dubai afternoon without blooming grey. It is the least visible step and the one most likely to ruin a batch.
A shell is cast first, the filling is spooned in warm, then the base is sealed flush.
Tempered chocolate is cast into the mould and turned out to leave a thin shell, deliberately thin so the filling stays the loudest thing in the bar. The pistachio kataifi is spooned in level, then a final layer of chocolate seals the base flush. The mould is tapped down to drive out any air pocket that would leave a hollow.
Rested until it releases from the mould on its own, then wrapped the same day it is made.
The bars rest in a cold room until they contract and release from the mould without being forced. Each one is checked for a clean edge and an unbroken gloss, wrapped in gold foil, boxed, and sent out cold. We make to order rather than to stock, so what arrives at your door was made that week.
We make to order, so the bar that arrives was in the mould a few days earlier. Tell us the date you need it.