Whilst relatively new compared to some other Caribbean spots in Peckham, this restaurant flies the colours of the Jamaican flag high for all too see. Owner Bill can sometimes be seen to the side of the shop, cooking up jerk chicken in a steel drum he made himself. On the weekend, his jerk pork makes a special appearance, with many lamenting that the shop doesn’t sell it every day. For Caribbean food novices, the shop’s mini meals that range from £2.50 — £3.50 are a fine starting point.

Just off Hackney’s Chatsworth road, expect to see proprietor Lenny drifting in and out of his shop, tending to his jerk drum sitting out front throughout the early hours of the day. His slow process of jerking hefty pieces of meat has proved an instant favourite in the area.

Come a Crystal Palace home football game, hundreds of fans — both home and away — pass through Tasty Jerk for an alternative to bang average stadium grub. With the shop lined with jerk drums, it almost seems to have created a Ford-esque conveyor belt, built to whip out as much perfect jerk as humanly possible come Saturday or Sunday.

Hopping around different spaces for a few years, Drums and Flats — named after the chicken wing parts — has become a hot tip across south London. It’s now settled into a permanent space, in Peckham’s new Levels hub. The duo behind it spent years perfecting their recipes, one of which includes their fried jerk chicken, coated in homemade seasoning and beautifully decorated with scallions.

Everyday is like a lottery at George’s First Jerk Catering, located on Croydon’s Surrey Street market. He doesn’t do jerk chicken everyday, but on the days he does, Croydon’s locals and visitors count themselves fortunate, with workers pouring out of offices to form a rowdy queue for his wares. There’s no kitchen backing the stall, so as Glen likes so tout, “once it’s gone, it’s gone.”

For anyone craving jerk in the wee hours of the day, when most others are tucked away in bed, Ossie’s still cranks out the goods. The £3 ‘chicken and chips’ is a favourite for worldly youngsters seeking an alternative to the scores of chicken shops lining the local high street.

For local reggae legend King Atarney, music and food go hand in hand. Swooning reggae tunes — including some of his own — usually provide the sounds inside Blessed. Often cooking alongside his son on their wide furnace, turning chicken and taming flames with a water squirter, all of Atarney’s meals should be accompanied by his son’s all-purpose jerk seasoning sauce, also known as ‘Lightning Blessed!’ The title alone lets would-be eaters know what they are in for.

Unlike most Caribbean takeouts that attempt to sell the entire catalogue of island favourites, Smokey Jerkey is a real rarity: it has focussed on selling nothing but jerk lamb, chicken and pork for the last decade. Cooked on owner Louie’s self-designed furnace that burns on hickory wood, there’s a smoked profile not found on most jerk on the capital. Be careful of the seeming tomato ketchup on the counter: it’s actually a house scorpion pepper sauce. Not for the faint-hearted.