Soon after I arrived in Mexico City I was tipped off that the freshest and least expensive way to eat seafood was at marisquerías, informal fish restaurants that are often attached to markets. Among their specialties are oysters on the half shell, a mixed seafood cocktail called vuelve a la vida (back to life), and mojarras (a kind of sea bream, either whole or fileted) in garlic sauce or in a Veracruz sauce of olives, tomatoes, onions and capers.

But perhaps the nicest thing about marisquerías is their shamelessly gaudy decoration. This photo was taken at one in the San Ángel market on Avenida Revolución.