Adding to west London’s burgeoning roti scene, Roti Kitchen in West Ealing looks to celebrate all elements of Caribbean culture and heritage rather than just one island. With this, the kitchen menu stretches far beyond its already extensive roti offering, which covers the likes of butternut squash filling, saltfish buljol — fresh veg medley — and barbecue chicken. Add the sharing platters and numerous sides on offer, and novices to Caribbean food can get a primer on food from all the islands.

Mauritius is in the Indian Ocean, not the Caribbean, but it shares the migration patterns and history of indentured labour of Indo-Caribbean culture, and much of the culinary tradition too. This counter makes roti and dalpuri to order, every order, before filling them with chana masala; fragrant curry chicken; or a pilchard curry. There’s an evil panini roti — what if roti but pressed to a char — and keen diners can pre-order biryani, rougaille, or creamy fricassee pasta.

Nearly a decade old. Local Trinis and Jamaicans looking for something different on a road densely populated with Jamaican takeouts offering patties and jerk find solace in the aptly named Trinidad Roti Shop. Offering up the usual Trini fare, vegans will especially favour the vegetable roti, jam-packed with pumpkin, spinach, chana curry, and potatoes. The more seasoned Trini food connoisseurs of the area savour the ‘Saturday Oil’ down on weekends: a coconut milk stew with the choice of pork, fish, or chicken.

While the likes of Roti Stop rings bells north of the river, to those south all these mean nothing compared to Croydon’s Roti Masters, which has been a quasi-social hub for the Trini community in the area over the last decade. Freshly prepared dalpuri roti and also buss up shot’s streaky roti bread strips go hand in hand with curry shrimp or fried king fish, Trini favourite Red Sorrel Solo soda on the side.

Though Guyana has a long history of British rule, its diaspora in Britain is much smaller than the Caribbean islands with which it has a deep cultural connection. With this, Umana Yana exists as one of the very few of Guyanese takeout spots in the entire country, let alone London. Here, Guyanese specialities such as slow-simmering sweet pepperpot stew, the classic okra-chicken combo, and curried meat and fish are all on display. The sweet pastry offering which is part and parcel of Indo-Caribbean trade don’t disappoint, with the likes of cassava pone — a cassava sweet potato cake — eddoe balls — formed from root vegetable dasheen — and the vividly coloured salara coconut swirl cake.

A reopened north London institution, Roti Stop’s history of doubles, pholourie, and, uh, roti runs deep in Stamford Hill and Stoke Newington. It plays the hits, with curry goat or jerk chicken on the bone, pumpkin channa, and calaloo with saltfish filling its pristine wraps, while anywhere that will put “deep fried tasty dough” on the menu for eighty pence deserves the highest praise.

Roti Island is a fitting name: its position in South Norwood on a road jam-packed with Jamaican takeaways must feel like an island. The shop offers up all the roti fillings one would expect, from curried meats to the rare sighting of a kingfish filling: a less salty and heartier fish than the usual saltfish. If the roti bread is too much or a New Year regime is in place, the plump pelau rice will surely suffice.

The Chaconia flower is the national flower of Trinidad & Tobago, chosen as it blooms at the end of August, which is when the nation gained its independence from Britain. This, and a ream of other interesting facts about the island collective, can be learned from Una, the owner of Deptford’s restaurant named of the same flower. As all the roti skins and fillings are made by Una, they have a softer, less oily and industrial texture than other places. It also means that the select choice of fillings — stewed and curried chicken or goat — have more depth of flavour and seasoning to them. The fry bakes are also a joy, to be snapped up whenever they are spotted in the side warmer. A less dense dumpling split with a saltfish boujoul, consisting of intensely flavoured saltfish and vegetables, at only £1.50 these are not to be missed.