Recommended for culinary lovers!
On the RN-003 road, at number 227 in Tibau do Sul, there is a seafood house with a tiled courtyard, coral-painted columns and a long dining room under a tiled roof. The brick grill sits in plain view, and lobster, octopus, shrimp and fish all pass over it. The kitchen runs Thursday to Sunday, 12:30pm to 10pm, straight through: the same room serves a late lunch and an early dinner without closing in between.
Book your table at Caminho do Mar on WhatsApp
| Type | Grilled seafood |
|---|---|
| Area | RN-003 road, Tibau do Sul, on the way to Praia da Pipa |
| Address | RN-003, 227, Tibau do Sul (RN), 59178-000 |
| Hours | Thursday to Sunday, 12:30pm–10pm · closed Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday |
| Seating | Dining room under a tiled roof, courtyard with outdoor tables and bench seating |
| Bookings | Yes, accepted |
| Service | Dine-in · outdoor seating · takeaway · delivery |
| On the menu | Lunch · dinner · dessert · sharing plates |
| With children | Good for children |
| Parking | Free open-air car park on site with plenty of spaces, plus free street parking |
| Payment | Credit card, debit card and contactless by phone (NFC) |
| Contact | +55 84 99189-8563 |
| @caminhodomar.rest |
This is a sit-down restaurant with waiter service. You walk in, you are seated, the table is already laid with a cloth runner, a napkin and a glass, and you stay as long as you like. The main room has dark wooden tables with chairs and, along one wall, bench seating for the long tables — that is where groups end up.
The house presents itself as a specialist in grilled seafood, and the layout shows it: the brick grill has a section of its own under the same roof, with clear floor in front of it. It is not a kitchen hidden at the back; it is part of the walk through the place.
There is lunch and dinner within the same unbroken shift, plus dessert. And there are small plates alongside the mains, which is what lets you build a table of things to pick at before ordering the big platter.
What defines Caminho do Mar is that the shellfish goes onto the grill rather than into the fryer. The house photographs say it plainly: lobster tails split down the middle and laid straight on the bars, white meat showing under the shell.
The dish that sums up the kitchen is the mixed grill platter: octopus tentacles marked by the fire, whole head-on shrimp, loins of white fish, and around them courgette, potato and carrot off the same grill, on a bed of leaves. It is a platter for two to share rather than a closed single portion.
Running alongside the grill there is a second, spoon-led line of cooking. The peixada, a northeastern fish stew, arrives in its pan: an orange broth, loins of white fish inside, halved boiled eggs, sliced potato, tomato and strips of pepper scattered over the top. It goes to the middle of the table and gets shared out.
There is pasta with seafood too: the spaghetti comes with mussels, shrimp, pieces of fresh tomato and chopped parsley in a deep white bowl. It is the option for anyone who wants shellfish without wrestling a shell.
The house lists wine, beer, spirits, cocktails and coffee. With a table of grilled seafood, a bottle of white is the natural partner, and beer carries a long afternoon in the courtyard. Coffee comes afterwards, and it matters here, because the unbroken shift means plenty of people stay at the table long after the plates are cleared.
There are two quite different rooms, and it is worth saying which one you want when you book.
The dining room sits under the tiled roof, with exposed beams, woven chandeliers hanging low and plants between the tables. Tables are laid with runners and blue napkins, and the house banner with its sailing boat hangs at the far end. This is the quiet side, the one that works for dinner for two or for a long evening over dessert.
The courtyard is the opposite: tiled floor, painted columns, plants against the wall and open-air tables under the eaves. Afternoon sun reaches it and the breeze moves through. This is the lunch side, the side for a table of six, and the side for days when nobody wants to be indoors.
The house describes itself as cosy, casual, romantic and quiet, and it takes both groups and visitors passing through. That mix explains why the same address suits a couple and a table of nine.
The detail to check before setting out: it opens Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday it is closed. That is the common mistake with this house, because the hours on the days it does open are long enough to suggest it is always there.
Within those four days the shift runs 12:30pm to 10pm without a break. For lunch, between 12:30 and 2pm. For dinner while there is still daylight, around 6pm, when the last of the light reaches the courtyard. For a slow evening, after 8pm.
Since the grill works to order and lobster is not always in, it pays to say what you want when you book. A WhatsApp message the day before is enough.
It stands on the RN-003, the road that links Tibau do Sul with Praia da Pipa, at number 227. This is not a place in the middle of Pipa: you arrive by car, by motorbike or by taxi, and from Avenida Baía dos Golfinhos it takes fifteen or twenty minutes.
What looks like a drawback is exactly what makes the visit easy. The house lists a free open-air car park of its own with plenty of spaces, plus free parking on the street. In high season, when leaving a car in central Pipa is a saga of its own, arriving somewhere you can park at the door changes the evening.
Coming from Tibau do Sul or from the ferry, it is on the way. Coming from Pipa, it is a short run: out of the centre, onto the road, done.
The house lists itself as good for children. The courtyard helps: open ground, flat flooring, no steps between the tables, room for a child to move without crossing the service. And the dining room has long tables with bench seating, the format that works when two families travel together.
The unbroken shift adds to it: you can have dinner at six in the evening, the hour families actually eat, without waiting for a restaurant to open for the night.
For anyone who came to the Northeast for seafood and wants it grilled rather than fried or breaded: lobster, octopus and shrimp over the fire, served on a platter.
For the long table: a group of friends, two families, a birthday. The bench seating, the open-air courtyard and the car park were built for that.
And for the couple after a calm dinner away from the bustle of the centre: the room under the tiles, with its woven chandeliers and plants, is somewhere you can hold a conversation.
Thursday to Sunday, 12:30pm to 10pm. It is closed Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
It takes bookings and they are worth making, especially at the weekend or for a large table. Book on WhatsApp at +55 84 99189-8563.
Grilled seafood: lobster, octopus, shrimp and fish, on a mixed platter with vegetables. Also fish stew in the pan and pasta with seafood.
Both. The shift runs straight through from 12:30pm to 10pm, so there is no choosing between arriving at lunchtime and waiting for the evening.
Yes. The house lists its own free open-air car park with plenty of spaces, plus free street parking.
Yes, the house lists itself as good for children. The open courtyard and the long bench tables help.
Both, alongside table service in the dining room and the courtyard.
Yes. The tiled courtyard has open-air tables under the eaves, as well as the covered dining room.
Credit card, debit card and contactless from a phone (NFC).
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