Filipe Rodrigues

Filipe Rodrigues is a chef whose career has been shaped by the Atlantic and by the discipline of working kitchens. Born in the Algarve, he began young, working in the popular sardine restaurants of Portimão and learning service in a place where fish was part of daily life. That early start gave his cooking a marine instinct from the outset, with salt, smoke, and freshness continuing to define his work. He worked as chef at Midori before becoming Executive Head Chef at Sea Me - Peixaria Moderna, where he served from 2010 to 2014.

He later worked as chef at Rabo de Pêxe and chef at Sushi Café. Taken together, these kitchens trace a steady progression and a style built on precision, clean technique, and a close relationship to seafood. His movement through these roles reflects a career that remained connected to the sea while developing through different settings and forms of expression. Rodrigues later became guest lecturer at ESHTE, a role he has held since 2011.

He also founded and serves as chef of A Taberna do Mar, founded in 2018, and GARUM Fish & Wine Bar, founded in 2024. These roles extend his work beyond the kitchen pass and show an interest in passing on experience while continuing to build projects that remain faithful to fish, the sea, and careful pairings of flavor and context. His signature dishes include sardine nigiri and Sakana Gunkan. Sardine nigiri reflects the coastal sensibility rooted in his beginnings in Portimão, while Sakana Gunkan shows a more styled expression of the same marine focus.

At Sea Me in Lisbon, his named work includes Sakana Gunkan, a creation made with choco and passion fruit. He is also associated with Atum Grelhado com Manteiga de Soja e Arroz de Sushi, a composed plate of grilled tuna, soy butter, and sushi rice. These dishes point to a cooking style that balances tradition and refinement, using fish as the central language while bringing it into a contemporary, deliberate form.