The restaurant is a place where love gathers.
Put your thoughts on the plate and in the space and share them.
Musashi-Koyama Station on the Tokyu Meguro Line has seen recent redevelopment, with the construction of tower apartment buildings and a new area in front of the station.
On the other hand, the old streetscape, said to be the longest shopping arcade in Tokyo, is still alive and well, and this combination creates a new charm.
Eme is a wine and bistro that opened in 2018, just a two-minute walk from Musashi-Koyama Station.
We had a long talk with owner chef Yasumichi Muto about his journey from his apprenticeship to opening the restaurant, his commitment to creating the restaurant, his thoughts on cooking, and even his recipes.
The approach to the green shop is reminiscent of a French patio
Anyone brought here by a regular customer without knowing anything about the store will no doubt be confused at the entrance. No matter how you look at it, it's a stylish greenery shop. If you go to the back of the central aisle with rare ornamental plants lined on both sides, you will come across a glass iron door and three steps, and beyond that you will see a spacious dining area and a curved counter. 
Its unique appearance makes it truly worthy of being called a hideaway. The interior with its industrial and vintage feel is also exciting. "Eme" is the kind of store that makes you want to brag about your knowledge, saying, "See, isn't it great?"
The interior isn't the only reason for its popularity. In addition to lunch courses starting from 3,850 yen, the restaurant also offers a 1,980 yen plate of French deli dishes, and dinner courses starting from 7,700 yen. A la carte dishes are also available, and the restaurant's versatility is another attraction, with a wide selection of wines and low-alcohol cocktails to enjoy.
The owner and chef, Yasumichi Muto, is originally from Kikuna, Yokohama. You might think he chose Musashi-Koyama because it's relatively close and on the same Toyoko Line, but that's not the case.
"We wanted a restaurant that could be used for everyday use as well as for special occasions. We aimed for a place that would not only serve delicious food but also contribute to a rich lifestyle, so we searched for properties mainly in Yoyogi-Uehara, Shoto, Hatagaya, and other areas where we thought there would be many discerning customers.
It was hard to find, but I didn't want to settle, so I continued looking while working freelance as a caterer, and after three years I came across this property." 
"Originally, this was the office space for the green shop "TRANSHIP" at the entrance, and they were looking to turn it into a restaurant. I'd only ever visited Musashi-Koyama when I was in elementary school while doing a stamp rally at the station (laughs), so it wasn't something I had anticipated, but there were many things that attracted me, such as the potential for a mix of long-time residents and the new generation of customers that has come from redevelopment, as well as the presence of several stylish, independent restaurants, and above all, it was a rare property that reminded me of a French patio. I decided on it immediately." 
While preserving the original interior design, such as the concrete ceiling and grey floor, the space incorporates many warm wooden items, such as wooden walls and vintage wooden tables and chairs, to avoid a cold impression.
There was a counter from the beginning, but the part attached to the wall was separated so that customers could sit facing each other. A large work table was installed in the center of the open kitchen at the back in anticipation of demand for catering and takeout. In fact, this has been useful during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The clientele is mainly local women, couples, and families, and most are over 40 years old, but recently, perhaps due to the influence of social media, there has been an increase in younger customers.
Judge based on your own experience, not on what others say
Muto was a basketball player as a boy, but he admired the European shoemakers and painting restorers he saw on documentary TV shows, and his dream for the future was to "work overseas and become a craftsman of some kind." When he became a high school student and began to think more concretely about his future, he decided to become a chef, as "the craftsman closest to me, a job that allows me to directly bring happiness to people."
His grandfather, who had already passed away, had once told him, "You will definitely become a businessman," and these words remained in his mind, leading him to aim to become an owner-chef.
"The elementary school I attended only had a girls' basketball club, so I gathered together members to form a boys' team and served as captain. I guess I'm just the type of person who likes to bring people together in team competitions. That's why I'm glad I chose a job as a chef, which requires teamwork." 
During high school, he worked part-time at a pizza and pasta restaurant. Although he had little experience cooking up until then, he was entrusted with making pizzas and discovered how fun it was.
After graduating, he worked to save up the money needed to attend culinary school, and planned to use that money to travel to Europe to see the sights and explore, before joining Tableaux in Daikanyama.
"My senior colleagues at Tableaux were all well-known figures in the industry, and I struggled to keep up. In fact, I think I was barely able to keep up. One time, I spilled some sauce that a senior had made, and even though I wasn't scolded severely, I couldn't help but cry at my own incompetence. That may have been the first and last time I cried at work."
"My seniors would often tell me things like, 'See the real thing,' 'Experience beautiful things,' and 'Go to such and such restaurant, even if it's a bit of a stretch.' I chose to travel to broaden my horizons rather than go to school, and I'm the type of person who believes in things I've seen and experienced with my own eyes, rather than just hearing about them or hearing what other people say, so I took that advice to heart and put it into practice." 
He knew he needed to look stylish when going to a restaurant, so he got his first credit card at the time and bought a Comme des Garçons jacket and shirt on a monthly installment plan. He still treasures them and wears them every now and then.
Delicious cuisine and local love learned in the Basque Country
After Tableaux, he worked at an organic restaurant in Yokohama, and in 2003, when he had saved up 1.5 million yen, he decided to travel. He spent three months visiting small towns in France and Italy, sampling local cuisine and touring art museums.
Muto had already decided that he wanted to become the owner and chef of a French restaurant in the future, but after seeing travelers from all over the world interacting in English at a youth hostel, he thought to himself, "I'd like to live in an English-speaking country." With just a few tens of thousands of yen left in his pocket, he flew to New Zealand, where he had friends, which was quite a bold move. 
"I used my working holiday visa to work at a modern Japanese restaurant for a year. Before entering the world of French cuisine, I wondered what it would be like as a Japanese person to not know Japanese cuisine. I started by buying a Japanese knife.
Later, Hidetoshi Nishioka of the Chinese restaurant "Renge," Kunihiko Kato of the Japanese restaurant "Ubuka," and Shuhei Murakami of the creative cuisine restaurant "LOOP" all worked there, so it was a very stimulating experience. However, my English didn't improve ..."
After returning to Japan, he honed his baking skills at a Western-style pastry shop before joining the French restaurant Cogito in Roppongi. Influenced by the wine-savvy owner, Muto also studied wine and served as chef at the sister restaurant, Marché au Vin Yamada.
He returned to France in 2009 and worked as a chef at a cafe in Lyon for about three weeks, before heading to the Basque Country, where he worked at a seaside restaurant and under Pierre Oteiza, a charcutier (processed meat craftsman) whom he had decided to work for before moving to France.
"In my case, I was already approaching 30 and had a fair amount of experience, so rather than training in cooking, my goal was to experience the tradition, culture and esprit firsthand. I was impressed by the deliciousness of Oteiza's charcuterie when I tried it in Japan, and I really wanted to experience it in the original place.
He and all the other people I met in the Basque Country were kind and welcomed me like family. That made me happiest, and I really felt how proud they are of their homeland." 
"Basque cuisine is simple and flavorful, so when I opened my own restaurant, I wanted to purchase Oteiza's salami and other products and make Basque cuisine one of the main pillars of my restaurant. However, I didn't want to simply copy the recipes and recreate the exact taste.
This is because even if you try to imitate it, the taste will never be the same as long as the local climate and the people involved are different.
But I'm not pessimistic about it. Rather, what I learned in the Basque Country is that it's important to choose ingredients that suit the land where you live and the people of Japan, and to create your own recipes, and that's fine."
Finally, he gained four months of experience at the three-star Lameloise in Burgundy, during which he says that visiting wineries accompanied by a sommelier was a valuable experience.
Part 2 -----
We spoke to Chef Muto about what he did to realize his dream of opening his own restaurant, his culinary philosophy as seen in his signature dishes and new dishes, how he spends his free time, and his ideal restaurant.
Part 2 is here
