A few weeks ago, we met up with old friends from Tokyo who were staying in a Coyoacán guesthouse on a weeklong holiday in Mexico City. We had a long leisurely breakfast just off Jardín Centenario and even though we only had the briefest of walkabouts in the local markets, we simply had to try the ice- cream at El Kiosko de Coyoacàn.There are several ice-cream shops in Coyoacán, but El Kiosko seems to be the best option. It is right across the street from the Iglesia on the way to the aquarium on Jardín Centenario. The selection of flavors is vast—probably close to a hundred. Different types are also available from real ice-cream with cream to the fruit sherbets that Mexicans do so well.Several fridges are arranged in a large square with three servers dashing about to find the various flavors ordered by the clientele that range from locals to streams of visitors that flock to Coyoacán on especially Sundays. It is a bit of an honor system—once you have your ice- cream in hand, you have to proceed to the cashier located behind another line of fridges. Apart from handling all the money, she also sells pre-packed ice creams on sticks. The selection of these is smaller but we particularly liked the small child-size sticks that went for MXN3 (30¢). We made the mistake of hanging around while enjoying our scoops, so there was no denying the small ones seconds when they finished theirs way before we polished off ours.Visiting Coyoacán again on Workers’ Day, we were considering cake with our coffee but knew we just had to have more ice-cream and thus resisted. We found El Kiosko busy as ever and took our time to observe the servers dashing about to find the right flavors effortlessly even though all the tubs are unmarked and seemingly placed randomly. My wife opted for a creamy scoop of a typical Mexican flavor. (When I failed to catch the name on the third repetition, I realized I was risking appearing stupid and feigned comprehension. Although it tasted just fine, I am still at complete loss what the flavor was.) Fruit sherbet is less fattening so I had two scoops: a guava that I tried, and obviously liked, on the previous visit and a lime. (In Mexico, lima is closer to what is known in most of the English-speaking world as lemon, and limon is lime. Go figure.)We spent a good couple of minutes sitting on a bench across from Iglesia de San Juan Bautista enjoying our ice-creams while watching the world goes by colorfully. The market here always seems active and balloon sellers provide enough color for anyone’s photographic needs—just remember to apply the rule of threes, except of course for real close ups.El Kiosko de Coyoacán, Jardin Centenario, Coyoacán, Mexico City.