Em serves Mexican food with Japanese influences.[3] It offers both à la carte and an eight-to nine-course omakasetasting menu selections—in which the customer allows the cooks to choose the plates to serve.[3][4] Its owner, the chef Luis "Lucho" Martínez, states the menu constantly changes because it "keeps the mystery alive" and allows the use of in-season ingredients.[5] 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.[4]
According to Regina Barberena, the menu has included options like 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.[4] On his trip, Guillaume Guevara noted dishes such as mole with beef tongue, spicy chicken, wagyu beef, and Petrossian caviar.[2]
Em is open in the evening; it has space for 52 seats and reservations are required.[1][4]
History
According to Martínez, who previously worked at the restaurants Quintonil, Máximo Bistrot, and Mia Domenicca, he opened his restaurant with the vision of creating a menu based on his own interpretation of Mexico.[6] He also did not want to create a Mexican establishment that could be associated with other fine dining places such as Pujol or Quintonil.[7] He opened Emília in 2018 on Río Pánuco Street, Colonia Cuauhtémoc,[8][9] and named the restaurant after his daughter.[10][11] Martínez and his associate Ebo Kobayashi planned the restaurant's interior design with Japanese designer Kanako Ishida, using materials including copper, quarry, and marble.[4]
In her visit to the restaurant in 2019, Mary Holland described the space as "glossy", with marble tables and leather seats. In the background, indie and rock playlists played, giving it the feel of a "cool, underground haunt" rather than a haute cuisine restaurant.[12] To access the restaurant, customers had to climb narrow, candlelit stairs. Inside, the lighting was dim, and at the center stood a square bar.[13]
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][3] Above the restaurant, Martínez opened a bar named 686 Bar.[14] He has said that he would like to relocate Em, as it is easier to work in a single-floor kitchen than in a building with multiple stories.[15]
Reception
In her visit to Emília in 2019, Holland of Robb Report recommended choosing à la carte dishes over the tasting menu would be a mistake, as it would not provide the full range of flavors.[12] The next year, in a review for Condé Nast Traveler, she advised sitting at the bar to watch the chefs cook the food.[16]
In her review for Time Out, Barberena rated Em with five stars out of five saying that Emília was "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.[4] On its selection of the top twenty-three restaurants in Mexico City, the same magazine ranked Em at number fifteen in 2024.[10]
Guevara wrote fot The Infatuation that the plates are "high-end" and saw Em as a more-approachable restaurant than Pujol.[2] The food review magazine Marco Beteta recommended the omakase options.[17] Juan Carlos Gamboa of Caras said the chef's dishes "surprise with their elegance and simplicity".[5] A reviewer for El Universal found the experience enjoyable and the flavors intense.[8] Zachary Rabinor of Travel + Leisure described the service as meticulous,[18] an opinion shared by Natalia de la Rosa for Chilango.[19]
When the Michelin Guide debuted in 2024 in Mexico, it awarded 18 restaurants with Michelin stars.[20] 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".[21] 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.[22]
↑ "686 Bar". The World's 50 Best Restaurants. William Reed Ltd. Archived from the original on 10 December 2023. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
↑ González, Daniel (27 February 2025). "Camino a la perfección"[The path to perfection]. Life and Style (in Spanish). Expansión. Retrieved 7 September 2025.
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( Michelin Guide , 2024)
