i. Biography
Coming Up
At Pátio 44, Simão Soares is cooking with clarity and restraint, using familiar ingredients as a starting point rather than an endpoint. The work reads as careful framing: texture, temperature, and classical technique doing the heavy lifting instead of excess.
Where They Are Now
In Porto, the kitchen at Pátio 44 is built around a quiet precision that is easy to read in the plate. With Simão Soares as chef, recognizable ingredients are handled in a way that changes their context, not their identity, so the dish feels considered without becoming fussy. The style depends on attention to structure and balance. Fresh cod with smooth chickpea purée shows that method clearly. The cod stays central, while the purée gives the plate its softness and rhythm. For Simão Soares, the point is not to disguise the ingredient but to position it differently, so a familiar product lands with a more deliberate shape. That same discipline carries through the tofu and mushroom dish with demi-glace. Classical technique is applied to ingredients that do not always sit inside a Traditional Portuguese frame, and the contrast gives the plate its tension. The method is present, but it stays in service of the ingredients rather than calling attention to itself. Dessert follows the same logic. Shape, balance, and the way one element sharpens or softens another remain the focus, even at the end of the meal. In Simão Soares’s cooking, the structure matters as much as the ingredient list, and each course feels assembled from the inside out.
Signature
Simão's signature dishes include cod "punheta" with crunchy rice, fresh cod with smooth chickpea purée, and tofu and mushroom dish with demi-glace. Taken together, they outline the kitchen’s working logic: cod treated with care, contrast used as a tool, and technique applied with purpose rather than display. The Traditional Portuguese specialty sits alongside more unexpected combinations, but the same underlying sensibility holds everything in place.
Honors
The clearest markers around the work are Porto, the cod-led dishes, and the recurring use of contrast and technique.
Profile updated August 2026
FAQ
Asked of Simão
What is Simão Soares's current role?
As of 2026, Simão Soares is Chef.
What is Simão Soares known for?
Traditional Portuguese cuisine.
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