Em (restaurant)

Em is a fine dining restaurant in Colonia Roma, Cuauhtémoc, Mexico City, that serves contemporary Mexican cuisine with Japanese influences. It has daily à la carte options and an eight- to nine-full-course tasting menu. It is owned by chef Luis "Lucho" Martínez, who opened it in 2018 as Emilia in Colonia Cuauhtémoc. It was later renamed and relocated to Colonia Roma due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the food industry. Critics have given the restaurant favorable reviews, and in 2024, Em received one Michelin star in the first Michelin Guide covering restaurants in Mexico.

Description
Em is only open in the evening; reservations are required, and it has space for 52 seats. The eatery offers both à la carte and an eight- to nine-course omakase tasting menu selections, where the customer allows the cooks to choose the plates to serve. The card menu is updated weekly, and daily options alongside it are replaced every three months. Customers who choose the tasting menu are seated in the main bar, while those who order à la carte sit at surrounding tables.

Em serves Mexican food with Japanese influences. Commenting on the menu's constant changes, Martínez states it is because it "keeps the mystery alive" and so that in-season ingredients can be used.

According to Regina Barberena, the menu includes baby corns topped with caviar and queso bola sourced from Ocosingo, Chiapas, a mushroom enoki dashi 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. On his trip, Guillaume Guevara noted dishes such as mole with beef tongue, spicy chicken, wagyu beef, and Petrossian caviar.

History
Em is owned by chef Luis "Lucho" Martínez, who worked at Quintonil, Máximo Bistrot, and Mia Domenicca restaurants. According to him, he did not want to create a Mexican food restaurant that could be associated with Pujol or Quintonil. Martínez opened Emilia in 2018 on Río Pánuco Street, Colonia Cuauhtémoc, naming the restaurant after his daughter. He and his associate, Ebo Kobayashi, planned the restaurant's interior design with Japanese designer Kanako Ishida, implementing materials that featured copper, quarry, and marble. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the food industry, it was renamed to Em and relocated to Tonalá Street, Colonia Roma, in a space previously housing Máximo Bistrot. Above the restaurant, Martínez opened a bar named 686 Bar.

Reception
On their selection of the top twenty-three restaurants in Mexico City, Time Out ranked Em at number fifteen. In her review for the same magazine, Barberena rated the restaurant five out of five stars, adding that "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. Guevara described the plates as "high-end" and saw Em as a more approachable restaurant than Pujol.

Marco Beteta recommended the omakase options. Juan Carlos Gamboa, writer of Caras, said that chef's dishes "surprise with their elegance and simplicity". A writer for El Universal found the experience enjoyable and the flavors intense. When the Michelin Guide debuted in 2024 in Mexico, it awarded 18 restaurants with Michelin stars. Em received one star—meaning "high-quality cooking, worth a stop". The guide added that "[b]oth the à la carte and the tasting menus overlap well enough [...] Refined, bold flavors come through clearly in both".