Sanborns Parque Tezontle

The chain. Sanborns combines a café, restaurant, pharmacy and shop, open long hours, with Mexican snacks and a broad international menu. Breakfast before anything else opens, a predictable meal, a clean bathroom and wi-fi — and cards accepted.

This branch. In the Parque Tezontle shopping centre, on Canal de Tezontle in Iztapalapa — the east of the city, dense, residential and entirely outside the visitor circuit.

What is actually around here. Iztapalapa holds more original pueblos and barrios than any other borough, each with its own church and calendar, and two things worth planning around: the Holy Week passion play, staged since 1843 and drawing hundreds of thousands, and the Cablebus, the urban cable car that crosses the borough and gives the best views in the city for the price of a transport ticket.

Practical notes. Av. Canal de Tezontle #1512. Metro line 8 and the Cablebus serve the borough. There is mall parking. Traffic on the eastern axes is heavy at both rush hours.