Museo de la Tecnología (Technology Museum)

The Mexican Revolution is celebrated on the 20th of November. This year, that day was a Friday but the calendar of the SEP (Secretaría de Educación Pública: Ministry of Public Education), which also regulates the calendars of many private schools, changed the day of the bank holiday from the Friday of the 20th to Monday 16th. I suppose it was done contemplating the tie with the so-called "Buen Fin" ("Good End") in which - supposedly - many businesses put their merchandise on sale; there's an abundance of offers and great discounts, but in reality they are usually all a hoax. But the point of this post is not to complain about the "Buen fin", when traffic and queues to enter the squares and business become a real, almost hellish, mess, but instead to point out that my university (the Metropolitan Autonomous University) follows its own calendar, different to that of the Ministry of Public Education. Which is why I went to classes on Monday 16th November, but I didn't on Friday 20th November.

Coincidentally, it was this day that my mother visited me here in the Federal District. She used to live here and, as I had a craving for some Green Tea Biscuits from the tea-patisserie lounge “Ruta de la Seda” (Silk Road Café) in Coyoacán, we decided to go together.

I usually have a very bad sense of direction, so going to new places is usually a challenge because - to avoid getting lost - I usually use the subway, whether it is the most convenient way or not. Which, unfortunately, does not mean that I don't get lost a couple of times before finding the right path or before finding someone who looks trustworthy enough to ask.

With my mother here, I took advantage of her knowledge of the city, her excellent sense of direction and her company so that, together, we could go to this tea room, which I had wanted to go to for a year, after a friend of my mother gave me some of these delicious cookies to try.

Moreover, my mother had a met up with her friends the day before, so she was able to ask them for the address of “Ruta de la Seda”. In doing so, it turned out that all her friends - because they all live here - had already visited the cafe and immediately told her that it is tasty and so very crowded, so you have to arrive early to avoid having to wait so long to get a table.

For that reason, we left from where I live - near to Galerías Coapa in Coyoacán - at approximately nine thirty in the morning, and it took us about an hour to get there. We had to take public transport - since we don't have a car here - so we took a bus from Avenida Canal de Miramontes on the opposite side of the Bazar Coapa, that is, on the side of Galleries. It is necessary to pay attention and make sure you get on a bus that says it's going to the "Metro Tasqueña" but not the "UAM-Xochimilco" because, although those will also take you to Tasqueña, they will first take you on a long detour along Calzada del Hueso (Bone Road). The other thing that can be done, to avoid a detour near UAM-Xochimilco, is very simple: cross the street to the square in front of you that has a Sekiguchi tool shop, an Atlas Beds store and a gym on the top floor and is diagonally across from the Bazaar. On this corner, almost all the routes cross over, and you can take one to Tasqueña.

Bus choice

Large buses will charge you $5 Mexican pesos for the trip and small buses - which are usually referred to when talking about or minibuses etc. - will charge you $4 Mexican pesos. You'll normally decide which one to take based on which one arrives first but I would particularly advise you to get on the big buses for several reasons. Firstly, because the price difference is next to nothing. Secondly, the little buses usually fill up to full capacity. Thirdly, the distance is not so short that it is not uncomfortable to stand the whole way. Fourth, the little buses are uncomfortable for people who measure 1. 65 meters (5' 4") or taller because of their low ceilings, even lower seats, lack of space and lack of places to lean on.

Another piece of advice for people like myself, who easily get lost, is to ask the driver to let them know when they've arrived at your stop if they don't know their route well or where to get off. With the variety of buses that head to Tasqueña, the problem isn't as present because Tasqueña is the final stop for many bus routes, but there are some routes that only pass through here and then continue on to the General Anaya metro or to other places. I say this because the first time that I went to Tasqueña by bus, I didn't know where to get off and I ended up missing my stop.

Continuing with the journey...

You must consider that next to the Tasqueña metro station is the southern bus terminal, the bus stop and a small market. It may seem like a very bustling and confusing place, but the point here is to find a route that says it's going to the Miguel Ángel de Quevedo Metro and - when getting on the bus - ask if you follow the entire Miguel Ángel de Quevedo Avenue. Here you can also choose between buses or mini-buses, but since it is a terminal stop, the waiting times can be long because the buses don't start their route until the driver considers the bus to be full enough. Now, as I only asked that, when I had to pay it was $9 Mexican pesos for both of us, but I did not tell the driver where we were going to get off and I do not know if it costs more if someone else tries this route. I don't believe that it would cost more because the journey itself seemed short to me.

As I was going with my mother and she already knows this part of the city, she told me where we should get off, so I could not say for sure how to know exactly where to go. What I can tell you is that the street you are looking for is Pino and it is a few streets away from a blue Starbucks that is located after a Derma pharmacy.

When you arrive at Pino, turn right and follow the whole of Pino Street until you find the corner, and on the right will be the Patisseire-Tea Room "Café Ruta de la Seda". It is located in front of a small park, so if you end up having to wait for a table to be available, you can wait for one on a park bench… as long as you stay alert for when your name is called, of course.

Here you can see the whole of the outside of the café... and my finger covering the light, apologies.

Here you can see the little outside tables.

The approach to the sideboard that is right at the entrance of the Café and the box to pay.

In truth, the establishment is quite small, but it gets a lot of customers. You can bring your dog if you sit on one of the eight outside tables, or you can smoke. The fact that they accept pets does not mean that they have dishes or water for dogs, nor that there is a specific place for you to tie their lead to. It simply means that they won't chase you out for bringing your canine companion along with you.

You can see a little more of the inside the Café: the kitchen and the shelves full of coffee above the professional coffee and hot drinks machine.

Food and House Specialties

The following two photos show one of the pages of the menu, the complete version of which is available online, on their official website (which is in Spanish), for you to look at.

From here you can note the unique characteristic of the café, in regards to the variety of exotic, organic, high-quality food that is offered to the café's clientele.

In this photo I would like to point out the basanti flower salad, which includes several flowers of different colors, all edible. This is a salad that can be appreciated both for the taste and for the wonderful visual experience.

The café has breakfast, sandwiches made with homemade bread, organic salads (available from 14:00), organic bakery and a great variety of desserts. All the food is quite exotic as the menu includes dishes with Korean kimchi, dishes of Persian food, food with edible flowers, etc. All of its products are of a high quality, organic and/ or artisanal. But, among their breakfasts, you can still find typical Mexican dishes such as molletes (muffins) and chilaquiles.

The next two photos are of the breakfasts that my mother and I ordered. She usually likes bitter flavors so she loved her breakfast of kuku sabzi (a Persian fresh herb omelette that includes chives, dill, parsley, coriander and mint, with nuts and sour milk in the centre) with an americano coffee and apple juice. Even so, because the portion size was so large, she ened up asking to take half of her omelette home.

The kuku sabzi.

A little while later at home, I prepared cuscus with parmesan cheese that I ate with the rest of the omelete. Thanks to the couscous and cheese, the bitterness was diluted enough for me to be able to say that I also very much liked the dish. Furthermore, the ingredients are of a really high quality, which made the dish much better.

The second photo is the breakfast that I ordered: the croque madam (peasant bread with melted alpine cheese and slightly thick slices of delicious turkey ham, served with bechamel sauce, one of my favorites, and scrambled eggs on top) with black tea and apple juice. I loved all of it, the flavours complimented each other and everything together was great.

Also, it should be noted that, thanks to the specificity of the products, the fruit content of tea cakes, cakes and breads is restricted by when they're in season.

One of the house specialties - apart from the artisanal breads - is the Kyoto cake that is made of green tea and is served with strawberry concoulis (a thick strawberry sauce). All their cakes cost $65 Mexican pesos per individual slice and $600 Mexican pesos for the whole cake. Actually, I have to say that if you can afford the whole cake it is worth doing, but if not, a slice is enough to amaze you and turn you into a regular customer.

Another detail that I loved is that there are brown sugar and Stevia sweetener sachets on the table; regularly there is only cane sugar and Splenda sweetener, neither of which I like, so this is a detail that made me very happy.

Among what they offer from their organic bakery is kouign amann (butter puff pastry and caramelized sugar, originally from French Brittany) concha de mantequilla (butter shell that can be Jamaican and has a red or green tea or dark chococolate cover and costs $25 Mexican pesos); red wine and nut bread, 200 grams for $30 pesos and 1 kilogram for $120 pesos; natural olive oil/ matcha challah; babka de gianduia (soft braided bread), filled with hazelnut cream and chocolate, a bit like the filling of Ferrero Rocher chocolates at $35 pesos for an individual slice of bread and $120 for the large piece; chausson aux pommes (puff pastry pie with applesauce at $35 pesos a piece) and tea cakes at $45.

Due to the exotic flavours, there are many people who go to the café and ask for a Mexican dish or sweet breads and cakes, where there is no surprise if the flavour are good, but, I think, the point of going to this establishment is to explore this diversity of ingredients, spices and flavours that you are not usually used to.

Prices

For a student with a small budget, the coffee may seem to cost a lot, but the truth is that they are fair prices for the ingredients, the dishes and the amount they serve you. The only thing that seemed very small was my glass of juice, but since I also had my black tea that was included in a breakfast package, I wasn't very thirsty anyway.

Salads, breakfasts and sandwiches cost from around $65 pesos to $95, but they are very well served dishes. To get the breakfast deal, and add a plate of fruit or add juice and coffee or tea (which, on that day, there was only the option of black tea), $30 pesos are added to the price of breakfast. Therefore, it is expected that you will pay approximately $125 pesos per person if you do not want dessert, which I think is a very bad idea. The desserts and breads of the place are the best they have to offer and are unique to the establishment, therefore, essential to try.

Atmosphere

As the tables were all occupied when we arrived, we had to wait. Luckily, not long after we arrived, the people on two outside tables left. There, we were able to observe all the people passing by - which didn't have much to do with the time or because it was school day - but it helped to create a nice, quiet and outdoorsy environment.

It's an atmosphere that appeals to all classes of people, from young children to mothers and elder gentlemen reading the newspaper. In fact, there was a man reading the newspaper on the table next to us who was smoking. But, as the smoke didn't reach me, it didn't bother me. One girl came in with her dog and sat down to wait for her food to come whilst the puppy lay on its blanket on the floor. Two guys arrived, one of which came from a country that spoke English, along with another girl, and all of them were young. There were three tables of women with babies, none of which screamed or cried. There was also a couple that arrived on motorbikes. All kinds of people enjoyed the atmosphere without the noise of voices ever getting to be too loud.

Additionally, when we went there was a girl singing with here acoustic guitar, and by the time we were finishing eating, a duo of Huasteca music (music from the geographical and cultural region of La Huastica in Mexico) arrived: a man with a jarana (Mexican guitar) and another with a violin. They were both excellent, they harmonised and were really in tune.

All of this made our experience at the Café Ruta de la Seda an excellent one, and one that we shall definitely be repeating. I hope that many more will come to here because it is definitely worth a visit.