Famous Food of KPK: Regional Dishes and Where to Try Them

The famous food of KPK is built on meat, rice and bread, cooked simply. The dishes everyone knows are chapli kebab, the salted namkeen karahi and tikka of Peshawar, slow-cooked dum pukht and Kabuli pulao. Travel further and each region has its own speciality: Bannu beef pulao in the south, river trout in Swat, landi, the dried mutton of the mountain winter, and in Chitral, breads layered with cheese and walnut oil such as ghalmandi. Everywhere, the drink is green qehwa.

Peshawar's own food has a guide of its own, so this one spends its time on the rest of the province: what to eat where, when it is in season, and how to find the dishes that are mostly cooked at home.

Peshawar and the Peshawar valley

Peshawar is the heart of KPK's food, and our guide to Peshawar's famous food goes dish by dish through the city, with the best-known places to eat. In short:

• Chapli kebab is the province's signature: a wide, thin patty of minced beef or mutton with onion, tomato, green chilli, coriander and crushed spices, fried in a shallow pan of fat until the edges crisp.
• Namkeen karahi and namkeen tikka are lamb cooked with little more than salt, tomato and green chilli, or roasted on skewers over charcoal. Namak Mandi, in the old city, is where to eat them.
• Dum pukht is lamb sealed in a pot and cooked slowly in its own juices, part of the Shinwari style of the Khyber region, which also gives Pakistan its Shinwari karahi and tikka.
• Kabuli pulao, long-grain rice cooked in meat stock and topped with fried carrots and raisins, came with Afghan cooks and traders and is a Peshawar staple.

Outside the city, the villages of Charsadda and Mardan have a rice dish of their own: ghatay wrejay, literally "thick rice", a soft, sticky, risotto-like dish made with short-grain local rice. It is home cooking rather than restaurant food, and the way most visitors try it is as a guest.

Bannu: beef pulao

Bannu, in the south of the province, gave its name to one of the best-known rice dishes in Pakistan. Bannu pulao is beef cooked on the bone, with its marrow, into a rich stock, and served over rice cooked with ghee and whole spices such as cloves, cardamom and bay leaf, usually with raw onion, green chilli and lemon on the side. It is heavy, fragrant and meant for sharing.

You don't need to go to Bannu to eat it. Shops selling Bannu beef pulao are found well beyond the district, in Peshawar, Swat and other cities; the lunchtime queue is usually the best guide to a good one.

Swat and the mountain valleys

Trout

The cold rivers of upper Swat, from Madyan up through Bahrain to Kalam, Utror and Ushu, suit trout, and Swat has the largest trout farming industry in the country, raising rainbow and brown trout. In January 2025 there were about 150 trout farms in Swat, and farmed trout sold for about PKR 2,000 to 2,500 a kilogram. Prices change with the season, so ask the rate before you order. Madyan's golden trout has become popular with visitors in recent years.

Trout is served fried in spiced batter or grilled, with naan and chutney, in roadside restaurants along the river. It is a winter favourite in Swat, but you will find it in summer too. The Kaghan valley has trout farms as well, and trout is on the menu in Naran.

Landi

Landi, sometimes written lahndi, is the winter meat of the mountains. Families fatten a sheep or goat through the summer and autumn, slaughter it in December, salt the meat and hang it to dry in the cold air, and then cook it through the winter in stews and with rice. It is a tradition in Swat, Dir, Chitral and across the Hindu Kush, and it has a strong, gamey, salty taste that people either love or don't. You are most likely to meet it as a guest in someone's home in winter.

Chitral: breads, soups and walnut oil

Chitrali food is its own cuisine, closer to the Hindu Kush and Central Asia than to Peshawar, and built on bread, soups, dairy and dried fruit. Much of it is home cooking. Dishes to ask for:

• Ghalmandi, flatbreads stacked with fresh cheese, chopped coriander and chives, finished with walnut oil.
• Chira shapik, a similar layered bread served with a creamy white sauce.
• Shoshp, a halwa-like dish made from sprouted wheat flour.
• Kalli, a noodle soup with minced beef, and lajhaik, a thick soup of wheat, barley and meat.
• Tikki, a hard-crusted loaf baked in the embers that keeps for weeks, and rishiki, thin pancakes, sweet with honey and cheese or savoury.

The easiest way to try them is to ask your hotel or guesthouse a day ahead; they are rarely on a menu. Chitral is also a good place to buy dried apricots and walnuts to take home. Our guide to places to visit in Chitral covers the district.

Dera Ismail Khan: Dhakki dates

The Dhakki date of Dera Ismail Khan is large, soft and caramel-sweet, and it was the first fruit in Pakistan to be given Geographical Indication status. The harvest runs from about mid-August into September. D.I. Khan is not a place for a leisure trip at present, but you don't need to go there: ask for Dhakki dates by name at dry-fruit sellers.

Tea: qehwa and doodh patti

Green qehwa, brewed with cardamom and often sugar, is drunk all day across KPK, after every meal and at every meeting. Milky tea, doodh patti or sheer chai, is just as common for breakfast and on the road. Accept the cup when a shopkeeper or host offers one; it is part of the welcome.

How to eat well on a trip through KPK

• Eat what the place is known for. Chapli kebab in Peshawar, trout in Madyan or Kalam, home cooking in a Chitrali guesthouse.
• Ask the price first wherever meat or fish is sold by the kilogram.
• Vegetarians will find KPK hard: there is daal, chana and vegetables, but the food culture is built on meat.
• Families will be more comfortable in larger restaurants with family seating; many small places are counters where men eat quickly.
• Ramadan changes everything: restaurants are shut by day and busy after iftar.
• Go gently. Lamb cooked in its own fat and beef pulao are rich, especially on a long drive.

If you would like meals like these built into a trip, tell us your plans.

Is KPK worth visiting for its food?

For meat lovers, yes. A day in Peshawar alone justifies the trip, and trout by the river in Swat or a Chitrali meal in a family guesthouse are among the best eating experiences in the north. For vegetarians, or anyone who dislikes rich, simply seasoned meat, KPK is a place to visit for the scenery, not the food.

Some of these regions also carry security warnings at present, including Peshawar, Swat, Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan. Check local news and current advice before planning a food trip, and remember that many of these dishes are served well beyond their home districts. For the province as a whole, see our guide to places to visit in KPK.

Frequently asked questions