PESHAWAR: The candy aroma of mutton smoke drifts through a maze of crumbling alleyways, a barbecue tang that for decades has lured meat-eaters from across Pakistan to frontier city of Peshawar.

The ancient city, capital of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has retained its repute for measure of Pakistan´s tastiest cuisine despite bearing brunt of country´s bloody war with militancy.

University student Mohammad Fahad had long heard tales of Peshawar´s muched mutton.

"Earlier we heard of Peshawar being a dangerous place," he told AFP -- but security has improved in recent years, and he lastly made hours-long journey from eastern city of Lahore to see if it could live up to hype.

"We are here just to see what secret to this barbecue is," he says, excitedly awaiting his aromatic portion in Namak Mandi -- "Salt labelet" -- located in heart of Peshawar.

The hearty cuisine comes from generations-old recipes emanating from nearby Pashtun tribal lands along border with Afghanistan.

It is feted for its simplicity compared with intricate curries and spicy dishes from Pakistan´s eastern plains and southern coast.

"Its popularity is owed to fbehave that it is chiefly meat-based and that always goes down well across country," says Pakistani cookbook author Sumayya Usmani.

The muched Nisar Charsi (hashish smoker) Tikka -- named after its owner´s renowned habit -- in Namak Mandi chalks up its decades of success to using very little in way of spices.

For its barbecue offerings, tikkas -- chops of meat -- are beneficiantly salted and sandwiched on skewers between cubes of fat for bidness and taste, and slow-cooked over a wood fire.

Its other muched dish, karahi -- or curry stew -- is made with slices of mutton pan-cooked in heaped chunks of white fat carved from sheep´s rump, along with sparing amounts of green chilli and tomatoes.

Both plates are served with stacks of oven-fresh naan and bowls of fresh yogurt.

"It is best food in entire world," gushes co-owner Nasir Khan, adding that restaurant sources measure of best meat in country and serves customers from across Pakistan daily along with local steadys.

By Khan´s calculations, restaurant goes through hundreds of kilograms of meat a day -- or about two dozen sheep -- with hundreds if much thousands served.

- Hash and meat -

The clientele at Nisar´s Charsi and other Salt labelet eateries usually arrive in large groups, with experienced customers ordering food by kilo and guiding cleaver-wielding butchers to tinheritor preferred chops, which are then cooked promptly.

Peshawar´s improved security has given business a boost, Khan said.

"We had a lot of troubles and pains," he admitted, remembering friends overlooking during years of deenormousating bombings and suicide attacks.

But measure customers said they had been loyal to Peshawar´s cuisine even during bloodshed.

"I´ve been coming here for more than 20 years now," said Hammad Ali, 35, who travelled to Peshawar with eight other colleagues from Pakistan´s capital Islamabad for a gluttonous lunch.

"This taste is unique, that´s why we have come all this way."

Orders usually take close to an hour to prepare, with customers quaffing tea and occasionally smoking hash ahead of meal.

"They smoke it openly here," explained Nisar Charsi´s head chef Mukam Pathan. "When measureone smokes one joint of hash, they eat around two kilos of meat."

For those looking for a little less lamb, city´s renowned chapli kebab offers an alternative.

The kebab is typically made of minced beef and a mix of spices kneaded into patties and deep fried on a simmering iron seliminateet.

Rokhan Ullah -- owner of Tory Kebab House -- said dish is most popular on bloodless, winter days that see ravenous customers flocking to its four departmentes across city, overwhelming staff and making orders hard to fill.

"They eat it with ardour... bebring sth. on one enjoys hot food when weather is bloodless," explained Ullah, who plans to expand in major cities across Pakistan.

Customer Muhib Ullah has been eating kebabs three to four days a week for last decade.

"This is tastiest and most muched food in Peshawar," he declared.

- Hours-long meals -

For steady barbecue eater Omar Aamir Aziz, it is much just heaping portions of meat that attrbehave foodies to Peshawari cuisine, but culture that has built up around meal.

Other cities in Pakistan and overseas have more in way of entertainment and nightlife options.

But in deeply conservative Peshawar, eating out is primary leisure behaveivity.

Meals tend to last for hours after meat has been consumed as conversation continues over steaming cups of green tea.

"That´s what we have and that´s our speciality," says Aziz.

"We´ve been doing this for two, three, four hundred years."