Em is open in the evening; it has space for 52 seats and reservations are required.[1][3] The eatery offers both à la carte and an eight-to nine-course omakasetasting menu selections; the customer allows the cooks to choose the plates to serve.[3][4] The card menu is updated weekly, and daily options alongside it are replaced every three months.[1] Customers who choose the tasting menu are seated in the main bar while those who order à la carte sit at surrounding tables.[3]
Em serves Mexican food with Japanese influences.[4] Martínez states the menu constantly changes because it "keeps the mystery alive" and allows the use of in-season ingredients.[5]
According to Regina Barberena, the menu includes baby corns topped with caviar and queso bola [es] sourced from Ocosingo, Chiapas; a mushroom enokidashi risotto, shimeji with caramelized onion and chili garlic; sea bass topped with parsley stem cream and white garlic sauce; lemon balm ice cream; and sea-salt-and-caramel-filled dark chocolate with konbu ice cream on top.[3] On his trip, Guillaume Guevara noted dishes such as mole with beef tongue, spicy chicken, wagyu beef, and Petrossian caviar.[2]
History
Em is owned by chef Luis "Lucho" Martínez, who worked at the restaurants Quintonil, Máximo Bistrot, and Mia Domenicca. According to him, he did not want to create a Mexican food restaurant that could be associated with Pujol or Quintonil.[6] Martínez opened Emilia in 2018 on Río Pánuco Street, Colonia Cuauhtémoc,[7][8] and named the restaurant after his daughter.[9][10] Martínez and his associate Ebo Kobayashi planned the restaurant's interior design with Japanese designer Kanako Ishida, using materials including copper, quarry, and marble.[3] Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the food industry, the restaurant was renamed Em and relocated to Tonalá Street, Colonia Roma, in a space that previously housed Máximo Bistrot.[1][4] Above the restaurant, Martínez opened a bar named 686 Bar.[11]
Reception
On its selection of the top twenty-three restaurants in Mexico City, Time Out ranked Em at number fifteen.[9] In her review for the same magazine, Barberena rated Em with five stars out of five, adding: "Emília [sic] is profiled in world cuisine with surprising techniques, tasteful finishing touches that are not necessarily bound to delight every palate", showing her appreciation for experiencing a variety of flavors on a plate.[3] Guevara described the plates as "high-end" and saw Em as a more-approachable restaurant than Pujol.[2]
Marco Beteta recommended the omakase options.[12] Juan Carlos Gamboa, writer of Caras, said the chef's dishes "surprise with their elegance and simplicity".[5] A writer for El Universal found the experience enjoyable and the flavors intense.[7] When the Michelin Guide debuted in 2024 in Mexico, it awarded 18 restaurants with Michelin stars.[13] Em received one star, meaning "high-quality cooking, worth a stop". The guide added: "[b]oth the à la carte and the tasting menus overlap well enough ... Refined, bold flavors come through clearly in both".[14]
Em, along with six other Michelin-starred restaurants in Mexico City, was honored by Martí Batres, the head of the Mexico City government. He presented the chefs with an onyx statuette as a token of appreciation for their role in promoting tourism in the city. The statuette's design is inspired by the pre-Hispanic sculpture The Young Woman of Amajac, in recognition of the significant contributions of indigenous women to national and international gastronomy.[15]
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