For more than twenty years I have worked in professional kitchens, and throughout this journey one question has always stayed with me: what truly makes a regional cuisine rich? It isn't only the variety of ingredients, nor simply the technique of the person cooking. It's the sum of all of that with the memory of a territory, with the climate that shapes what the land gives, with the hands of generations of farmers, fishermen and producers who came before us. Since taking over the kitchen at Monverde Wine Experience Hotel, in the heart of the Vinho Verde region, between Minho and the gateway to Trás-os-Montes, I understood that my role isn't only to cook — it's to translate an entire landscape onto a plate.
I trained at the Porto School of Hospitality and Tourism, and since then I have built my career in kitchens I deeply respect: the restaurant at Hotel Forte São João, Salsa & Loureiro at Porto Palácio Hotel, Restaurante & Wine Bar Degusto, Restaurante "Barão de Fladgate", Restaurante "O Comercial" at the Stock Exchange Palace, and Restaurante "Bull & Bear". Each of these kitchens shaped the way I think about a dish, how I lead a team, and how I respect an ingredient. But it was upon taking the helm of Restaurante Monverde that I found what I now consider the mission of my career.
"Cooking the cuisine of Northern Portugal isn't about reproducing old recipes — it's about understanding why those recipes were born, and continuing to tell that story with today's tools."
Minho: the garden that never stops giving
The Minho region is, to me, synonymous with abundance. It's a green, humid, generous landscape, where the land never seems to tire of producing. This is where Vinho Verde wines are born — refreshing and unique, the result of a singular climate and authentic grape varieties such as Alvarinho, Loureiro and Avesso. This is also where we find the corn behind traditional cornbread, the vegetables from the garden that change with every season, and a sea that merges with the river, bringing us sea bass, cod and octopus in equal measures of tradition and freshness.
One of the dishes I'm proudest of on Monverde's menu is our marinated cod, served with a crispy cornbread crust, chickpea purée, caramelised onion and a sweet pepper sorbet. It's a dish that sums up everything I believe in: it starts from an absolute Portuguese icon, cod, and recontextualises it with contemporary technique, without ever losing its Minho soul. The freshness of the sweet pepper sorbet works almost like a gentle provocation — the unexpected within the familiar.
Trás-os-Montes: the patience of knowing how to wait
If Minho is immediate abundance, Trás-os-Montes is patience. It's a region of cold, dry winters, of cured meats that age slowly, of dense and aromatic olive oils, of Bísaro pigs and products that only reveal their true flavour after months, sometimes years, of waiting. That philosophy of time and care is very present in how I work with meats such as lamb rack or braised duck breast, both dishes that demand slow, precise cooking to reach the flawless texture I look for in every service.
Farinheira sausage, long-cured pata negra ham, traditional smoked meats — all of these products carry centuries of popular wisdom about how to preserve and elevate what the land and the animals give us. Bringing these ingredients to a contemporary table, without stripping them of their character, is one of the greatest challenges — and also one of the greatest pleasures — of my profession.
Marinated Cod
Crispy cornbread crust, chickpea purée, caramelised onion and sweet pepper sorbet. Minho tradition, reinterpreted.
Lamb Rack
Coated in a pistachio crust, served with sweet potato rösti and green apple. Trás-os-Montes patience in a single dish.
Braised Duck Breast
Slowly braised, served with a clementine chutney risotto. Bright citrus notes balancing the richness of the meat.
Toucinho do Céu
Recreated with poached pear purée, tangerine ice cream and almond tuile. Portuguese convent pastry, served with elegance.
Wine as Part of the Recipe
Cooking at Monverde without thinking of Quinta da Lixa would be like writing a sentence without a verb. A crisp, mineral Alvarinho isn't just a pleasant accompaniment — it tells me whether a dish needs more acidity or more sweetness, it completes what the seasoning began to build. Wine pairing is not, for me, a last-minute technical exercise: it is the engine that pushes me to rethink a dish until it feels truly right. In our four- and five-course wine tasting menus, every dish has its wine considered alongside it, from the young whites of the Aromas das Castas range to the Quinta da Lixa Reserva wines and the 20-year-old Graham's Tawny Port that closes the experience memorably.
The Honesty of Respecting the Product
I deeply respect seasonality, because the land keeps its own calendar and I am not the one who commands it. I respect the origin of every ingredient, because every producer, every estate, every fisherman bringing in the morning's fresh catch is part of the final recipe, even if their name never appears written on the menu. This philosophy extends to the tasting menus we design at Monverde — true gastronomic journeys inspired by tradition, by the flavours of the region, and by a passion for Vinho Verde wines, where every dish is carefully created to express the best of local products.
Working directly with local producers — those who raise Bísaro pigs on the Trás-os-Montes hillsides, those who grow chickpeas or lupin beans, those who bring fish from the river or the sea — is one of the most rewarding parts of my work. It's this closeness that allows a simple dish to become memorable, without unnecessary artifice.
"What makes me proudest isn't technical sophistication — it's honest transformation, taking a simple product and returning it to the table without losing its soul."
An Invitation to the Table
People often ask me what makes this cuisine special. The answer is never easy to summarise, because it is made of many layers: the quality of the products, the preservation of recipes, the generosity of the people, the wine born from the slopes surrounding the hotel. But if I had to choose a single word, I would choose honesty. It doesn't lie in complexity — it lies in respect for the land, the climate, the history, and the people who worked before us so that today we could have these products on our table.
That is the honesty I try to bring, every single day, to the table at Restaurante Monverde — and it is the invitation I leave to everyone who visits us: a journey of discovery into the universe of Portuguese gastronomy, where simplicity is, truly, elegance.
