Where the Portuguese drink

111 South Lambeth Road, London SW8 (020-7793 1051)

Where is it? Poor old Jos? Mourinho. The glitz of the Chelsea lifestyle must be exhausting, and he no doubt hungers for a few down-home comforts, but can’t take time out from counting his squillions to make the trip. He only needs to turn his platinum 4WD across the Thames to find succour in Stockwell, home to what’s claimed to be the largest Portuguese community outside the old country.

What’s it like? Set in a little strip of restaurants, shops and caf?s, Bar Estrela is, like a caf? back home, the centre of the community. Everyone comes here, from old gents propping up the bar and middle-aged ladies enjoying a post-shopping sharpener to businessmen, mothers with kids and young dudes primed for a hard day’s posing. Expats and locals revel in the experience, inside under the collection of football scarves from Benfica and Porto, or outside on the pavement looking on to South Lambeth Road, where you could be on the banks of the Douro if the Douro were filled with red double-deckers.

What do they drink? The old boys like nothing better than a bottomless glass of cheap Portuguese or Spanish wine, while the ladies prefer fruit-based concoctions and the youngsters opt for bottled Sagres and Super Bock beers,
all served by waiters of the old school. With white shirts, black trousers and fag packets in their shirt pockets, these professionals take pride in their role as providers of restorative services. And so they should. A session in their care can send the most homesick expat fully revived back across the river to continue his conquest of the world.