Imperfection. Ask Thomas Tze Lian to describe the food at Emme, and this is the first word he reaches for.

“Everything will come up imperfect, in a sense,” he says. “It’s simply about getting the cooking or the grilling right, giving it a simple garnish and landing it on the table.

“Hospitality is a chain. A chain from farmers to the suppliers, and then eventually to us. It’s up to us to respect that chain, and be as creative as we can, but make the produce the hero.”

Emme opens on Wednesday in the old Spoon Deli space at James Street Market. It’s former Greca head chef Tze Lian’s first restaurant as co-owner. Another partner in the business is Sultan Amasheh, with much of the menu inspired by the Amasheh family’s Moroccan and Jordanian heritage.

Amasheh’s mother, Nawal Amasheh, has been in the kitchen with Tze Lian and sous chef Fin Burgess, lending recipes for a fattoush salad and an eggplant pickle with chilli and walnut, among other dishes (or elements of dishes).

“My job is to extract as much information from her as possible,” Tze Lian says.

Tze Lian’s and Burgess’ experience in Mediterranean and wood-fired cooking, respectively (Burgess was formerly sous chef at Essa), does the rest.

Emme is an all-day affair, with the menu split into breakfast, and then lunch and dinner.

In the morning, you might order French toast with date caramel, whipped yoghurt and seasonal fruit; poached eggs with pickled eggplant, walnuts, labneh, chilli and sourdough; an avo on toast with harissa and a native dukkah; or a crab omelette with chives, Aleppo chilli and sourdough.

Later in the day, there’s a char-grilled baby squid salad with nduja, herbs and shallot; a swordfish kofta; pipis with harissa butter and black lime; barbecue chicken with garlic yoghurt and shishitos; and a 300-gram wagyu sirloin with spiced mustard.

It’s food that’s straightforward in presentation but big on flavour, texture and colour.

For vino, Cuttings Wine’s Marin Mamata has helped put together a relatively brief 50-bottle list that’s designed to not be too deferential to the food.

“We’re not a wine-pairing style restaurant. People in this area know what they like to drink,” Tze Lian says. “We wanted to have a little bit for everybody. Then people can come by for a wine and a snack. We’re open all day.”

The design of the restaurant’s 40-seat dining room was handled by Sultan Amasheh before being finessed Alkot Studio’s Barbara Albert. It’s an understated stunner anchored by an enormous stone dining counter than runs much of the length of the dining room.

The two eye-catching features are a textured concrete wall and counter facade, and cross-hatched acoustic panelling on the ceiling. Taking pride of place in the open kitchen is a wood-fired oven and hearth produced by Melbourne’s The Brick Chef, which handles much of the cooking. It’s a warm space that runs at a slightly more sedate pace compared with its James Street neighbours.

Another 40 seats around a coffee machine outside (that punches out Five Senses coffee for the morning trade) wrap at 5pm.

“It’s comfortable,” Tze Lian says. “It’s meant to be a comfortable place to sit down. Our whole approach is wabi-sabi [the Japanese concept of accepting transience and imperfection], creating a homely place and celebrating that imperfection.”

Open Sun-Mon 6.30am-5pm, Wed-Sat 6.30am-10pm (dinner service commences May 15)

3/22 James Street, Fortitude Valley

instagram.com/emme.jamesst