No-one can decide what type of restaurant BAM is but that’s ok — just know that the food is exhilarating and essential at this Islington winner. The potato sourdough flatbreads are a must-order, piled with smoked lamb shoulder or chunky offal and finished with yoghurt and chillies both pickled and charred. Flavours are dialled up to ten and live fire cooking adds an important extra dimension of drama, as well as flavour.

Josh Katz has created an experience akin to eating in a cavernous, smoky nightclub but the food more than makes up for his antisocial approach to the volume dial in Haggerston. Thrilling from the moment the tray clatters onto the table, piled with fire-flashed chops, colourful salads and sauces that hark back to the best Middle Eastern kebab shops. Be sure to order the whole cauliflower shawarma with tahini, rose and pine nuts.  

One of 2018’s most raved-about openings has a grill set-up to die for, romantically referred to as “the hearth.” This complex arrangement of hooks, chains and flames allows for simultaneous fast and slow cooking. Tuna carcasses smoke for two days until bruised purple, their bones used to make a ‘caramel’ for poached onions; large pieces of meat hang up top, while ‘to-order’ proteins sizzle below. The muscular monkfish tail is a standout — grilled, then basted with sea buckthorn molasses until glossed amber, before being topped with tousled sea vegetables.

Barbadian chef-patron David Carter mans the grill at moody Shoreditch barbecue restaurant Smokestak, which made the leap from street food stall to permanent site in 2016. It’s not a traditional American barbecue restaurant, so don’t expect paper-lined trays of protein — this is far more bells-and-whistles. The brisket (available in a roll with pickled chillies or sliced) remains the best in London, despite the fact that former “brisket guy” Roberto has moved to Monty’s Deli.

Every seat is a good one at this Covent Garden institution, with its dramatic, horseshoe-shaped bar. Chefs expertly flip protein around the various levels of the grill while diners eagerly await the results, ripping into magnificent puffy naan breads and electric, tongue-tingling zhoug. Don’t miss the octopus mashawsha, a warmly spiced chickpea stew topped with a tender, charred tentacle.

A solo street food entry here, notable for its Asian-American approach. The dish to try is the pork belly, smoked for 8 hours over hickory then cubed, chilled, and re-crisped on the grill, mopped with a sticky soy-based glaze. Alongside, there’s sambal, coleslaw and… potato salad. Honestly, it works. The creamy blandness is a comforting backdrop for salty, punchy flavours. Various locations, check Instagram for movements.

One of very few genuinely first-rate jerk joints in London, this ramshackle spot in New Cross can be smelled from twenty feet away thanks to the smoke swirling from the back. The jerk has plenty of sweetness to balance the heat and spice and is powerfully present, unlike so many sterile imposter versions. Don’t forget the hot sauces decanted into unmarked plastic bottles on the counter.

F M Mangal may not be the best all-round Turkish grill in London but a few standout dishes make it worth the trip. Best of these is the Adana kebab — a hot, spitting, glorious mash of minced lamb and spice that splurges hot fat onto the chin with each bite. Grab a wrap (double adana) from the takeaway section at the front, and a package the size and weight of a small baby will appear, marking the beginning of a deeply meaningful, lifelong relationship.