Em
“One star, MX$3,800 on Tock: Lucho Martínez cooks Mexico through Japanese restraint. Book it for a serious solo dinner.”
About Em
Em is named for Emilia, Lucho Martínez's daughter, and the restaurant carries that intimacy into everything it does. Martínez opened the first version of the project in Colonia Cuauhtémoc in 2018, then moved it to Tonalá 133 in Roma Norte, a spare, handsome room where the kitchen works in near silence. The style merges two disciplines he refuses to rank: Japanese restraint, the single perfect ingredient left alone, and the deep flavour vocabulary of Mexico, chiles, ferments and masa. Michelin gave it a star in the inaugural 2024 Mexico guide and the 2026 selection kept it there.
The tasting runs eight to nine courses at MX$3,800, booked through Tock, and leans hard on seafood: raw fish cut with a sushi master's economy, then dressed with salsa macha or native citrus no Tokyo counter would recognise. An à la carte lets the neighbourhood drop in around the set menu. The wine list is short and smart, strong on Champagne and coastal whites, with sake given equal billing against the raw courses.
Roma Norte has louder rooms and easier tables, which is why Em matters: it is where the city's cooks eat on their nights off. Around fifty seats, low light, no music doing the food's work, and service that explains without lecturing. Prices sit a full tier below Polanco's two star pair while the cooking argues for the same conversation. Book two to three weeks out on Tock for weekends; weeknights are kinder, and the seats with a view of the pass are the ones worth requesting.
The Room
A pared back Roma Norte dining room of concrete, timber and warm low light, with the kitchen visible and audible only as knife work. Around fifty seats, including places with a clear view of the pass. The crowd is local, the volume conversational, the dress code Roma smart: good shirts, no jackets required.
Why book it, occasion by occasion
Use Em for the evenings below and it will look like inside knowledge. That is the point.
For the solo diner who wants the kitchen, not pity
Em treats one cover as a privilege. Ask for a seat facing the pass and the meal becomes a private demonstration: eight courses of knife work and quiet plating an arm's length away. The MX$3,800 ticket keeps a solo indulgence inside reason, Tock makes single seats easy to grab late, and the staff will pace a lone diner faster on request without making it feel rushed.
For a first date with taste and an exit ramp
The tasting gives a first date structure, eight small decisions arriving on schedule, and the room's low light and low volume do the rest. If the evening is going well, the bar pours a last glass; if it is not, dinner lands around two hours, not three and a half. Book a Thursday at eight and let the raw fish openers carry the early conversation.
For the client who has done Pujol already
Sophisticated visitors have usually eaten the famous tables by their second trip. Em is the move after that: a starred kitchen the guides love and the group chats have not found, at a price that reads as judgment rather than flex. The Mexican Japanese framing gives the table an easy conversation, and Tock makes the booking painless from abroad.
What to order
The menu is short and the kitchen sure handed. Your calls are the seat, the drinks and the extras.
- A seat facing the pass
The kitchen is the show: quiet, precise, no shouting. Request it in the Tock notes; solo diners get priority.
- The raw fish openers
Martínez cuts fish with Japanese economy and dresses it with Mexican heat. The first courses are the thesis; eat them slowly.
- Sake for the first half
The list gives sake equal billing and it flatters the raw courses. Switch to coastal whites when the cooked fish lands.
- The à la carte extras
When supplements are offered, take them; the kitchen offers only what the morning market justified.
Practical
- Address
- Tonalá 133, Roma Norte, Mexico City
- Reservations
- Tock · two to three weeks for weekends
- Tasting
- MX$3,800, eight to nine courses
- Also
- À la carte alongside the set menu
- Seats
- About fifty, some facing the pass
- Dress
- Roma smart, no jackets needed
- Dietary
- Seafood led · allergies handled with notice
- Pairings
- Sake and wine, matched to the day's fish
Questions diners ask
Is Em worth it?
Yes, especially for repeat visitors to Mexico City. One Michelin star held since the 2024 inaugural guide, a MX$3,800 tasting that undercuts the Polanco two stars by a third, and cooking, Mexican flavour through Japanese discipline, that nobody else in the city attempts at this level. Value score seven: pairings raise the bill quickly.
How do I book Em?
On Tock. Weekend seats want two to three weeks of notice; weeknights often hold tables a few days out, and single covers appear late even for busy nights. Book directly rather than through concierges, and use the notes field to request a seat facing the pass.
What kind of food is Em?
Chef Lucho Martínez cooks Mexican ingredients with Japanese technique: raw fish dressed with salsa macha, native citrus, masa and ferments alongside sushi grade knife work. The tasting runs eight to nine courses, seafood led with one richer meat course. It is precise rather than austere, and portions satisfy.
What does dinner at Em cost?
The tasting menu is MX$3,800 per person on Tock before drinks. With a sake or wine pairing and service, expect MX$5,500 to MX$7,000 a head, roughly US$300 to US$380. That is a full tier below Pujol and Quintonil for a kitchen in the same conversation.