Lacking the juice

On Sunday I managed to squeeze in a brief visit to Selfridges. No, I don't shop there - everything is out of my price range. But as a 'reporter' of Brazilian events and activities, I wanted to see the Brasil 40 Grau festival down there. It's been going since 1 May and was due to close yesterday. But what with the election and campaigning, I haven't been that far down Oxford Street for more than a month.

So one day before it closed and with less than half an hour before its doors shut for the evening, I wandered in. So was it looking any different? Initially, yes: the display windows in the streets were full of Brazilian design and fashion and inside the balconies were decorated with a Sao Paulo cityscape and the Amazon - given that Brazil is overwhelmingly urban, that was apt. Besides, life in the concrete jungle of Sao Paulo or Rio is probably more dangerous than the natural one further north.

The clothes, as ever, were prohibitively expensive - even those in the 20% discount sale. Not a lot of unique Brazilian designers on show inside though. The usual names abounded: Armani, Versace, D&G, Tommy Hillfiger... There were a few concessions made though, including a section given over to beachwear and football shirts and video displays of the beautiful game being played by Ronaldo.

But it was the cafeteria that I had come for. Shame it was already closed. Ditto, the barraco they had set up to look like something from the beach in the basement. But tempting it did look. They had finished serving for the day, but had I arrived just a little earlier there would have been fruit juices to be had - and best of all, acai, which I crave. Unsurprisingly, this was where the local Brazilian contingent had congregated; by the look of them, they seemed to have spent the best part of May in the lower ground floor of Selfridges.

So craving an acai which I couldn't have, I did the next best thing: I gave into my urge for a proper schwarma and mango juice and made the trek out to Edgeware Road for the best in town, at Beirut Express.