The goriest, bloodiest bites you can sink your fangs into in the British capital this 31 October.

With the globetrotting nature of the London food scene today, there’s all sorts of macabre dishes that can be construed as Halloween-ready. So, come the 31 October, ditch the kitsch toffee apples, green jelly, and trick or treat pick ‘n’ mix and welcome in these Instagrammable, ghoulish and simply delicious bites from all over town.

Book a table at Shoreditch’s Smokestak any night of the year and you could be forgiven for thinking you’d walked in on a Halloween fancy dress party, such is the getup of some of the hipster locals. Luckily, the food is on point. Starting life as a food truck, before finding a permanent home on Sclater Street, it has all the Deep South BBQ joint staples done seriously well. Brisket is tender and deeply spiced, while there’s some interesting menu additions in the form of mushrooms on toast: beautifully tart girolles on thick-cut sourdough slathered in butter. On 31 October, however, you should order the crispy pig tails. As you eat them, you’re under no illusion as to what they are. You can see the corkscrew gristle and feel the crunch of deep-fried fat and bone as you chew. They shouldn’t be delicious, but they are. A blend of sweetness and umami notes that makes simply superb beer-food. Pork scratchings for real men.

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35 Sclater St, London E1 6LB

Purple potatoes are one of those gastronomic rarities that look as though they are packed with e-numbers and colourings, but are as natural as if they were just pulled from the ground. Which they were. They taste pretty much the same as a standard spud, but bring a pop of purple to proceedings. Untitled in east London serves these with a delicious nori mayonnaise and sea herbs. The bar itself is the perfect setting for a Halloween party. Decked out in exposed concrete, it wouldn’t take much to imagine this as a setting for a horror film.

untitled-bar.com

538 Kingsland Road, London E8 4AH

Are you the kind of guy that’s constantly looking for an excuse to spoil the other half? Swerve the flowers and send a selection of Ms Giselle Richardson’s disgusting-sounding, but delicious-tasting Halloween macarons. Pick from spiced pumpkin, “blooberry” and toffee apple, or the slightly more outre graveyard dirt, crunchy bones or bloody elderflower. The murky green blood clots and bogeys is a bridge too far, for our taste. Grab a box from Primrose Hill Market, Real Food Market King’s Cross or Victoria Park Market.

primrosehillmarket.com

Elsworthy Rd, London NW3 3DS

Cooking octopus properly is almost as difficult as coming up with a Halloween outfit that doesn’t make you look like a jobbing children’s entertainer. To get the texture right, it’s a case of boiling carefully for up to two hours, depending on its thickness, checking at regular intervals to ensure that it’s not overcooked and then gently braising it with an amount of butter that will make your arteries harden on sight. This ghoulish looking appendage from Ikoyi ­– a West African restaurant serving Jollof cuisine – is prepared superbly and will stay on the menu long after the pumpkins have turned to mush.

ikoyilondon.com

1 St James’s Market, St. James's, London SW1Y 4AH

We’ll be ever-thankful to the guys from Bao for introducing London to authentic Taiwanese street food from its pared-back Carnaby Street site. However, whether we’ll be asking for a stay of execution for its latest creation in honour of Halloween is another story. The pig blood cake is a take on a Taipei street market staple, made from dousing puffed rice with porcine blood and then deep frying. In Southeast Asia, it’s served on a stick for a few pence, though it’s been given a modish upgrade for its move to London. Rectangular in shape and served with a confit egg yolk, it’s got a flavour like black pudding; irony, rich and deep.

baolondon.com ** 53 Lexington Street, Carnaby, London W1F 9AS**

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