Review: Tickets
Welcome…to the circus! After El Bulli closed its doors in 2011, the Adria brothers opened up a flurry of new restaurants in Barcelona, the most notable being Tickets, an innovative tapas bar that’s truly pushing the boundaries on molecular gastronomy. Along with being the most avant-garde tapas place in town, Tickets is also known for its notoriously difficult reservation system. Online reservations open up exactly 60 days in advance at midnight Barcelona (BCN) time, and the website often crashes even if you go on the dot. But don’t lose hope if you’re unsuccessful in placing an online reservation – you can call the restaurant the day of to find out if there were any last minute cancellations for that day. Do note that the restaurant is closed on Sundays and Mondays, so make sure to plan accordingly.
As for us, we were only in Barcelona for two of the days that Tickets was open, and our first attempt at a reservation was a massive disappointment. I logged onto to the website around 30 minutes after midnight BCN time only to find out that the site was completely flooded and down. After refreshing the page for about another half hour, the site finally loaded – only to show us that all reservations were completely taken. Oof. The next day, I tried the same thing, except I logged onto the website 5 minutes before midnight and waited patiently. Sure enough, as soon as it was midnight, the website immediately crashed and was down for another good 30-40 minutes. At that point, I had essentially given up, but a last-ditch attempt around 1AM BCN time revealed a functioning page and – to my utter and complete disbelief – available seats! I promptly made my reservation and did a victory dance in my head.
Fast forward 60 days, and we were standing in front of Tickets waiting for the restaurant to open. Peering in, we could immediately tell that this was not your typical molecular gastronomy/tapas/avant-garde restaurant. Inside was colorfully decorated to imitate the appearance of a circus, and even the servers were dressed in costumes! When 7pm finally rolled around, we walked along the red carpet entrance into the restaurant, with all of the staff smiling and greeting us. What a welcome!
Inside Tickets – only one of the sections!
Since this was our first time, we let our server create a tasting menu for us. All in all we had a total of 17 savory courses and 12 dessert courses – the largest tasting we had ever done by far. Since there were so many tapas and it’s hard to describe just how amazing each one was, I’ll let the pictures do the talking.
Tweezers – our eating utensils!
0. Virgin Mojito with Ginger Ale and Hibiscus Juice
1. “Olive” Bubble
2. White Anchovy with Skin of Chicken, Tarragon Cream on Cracker
3. Nori Seaweed with Foam Tapioca and Tuna
4. Tickets Version of Tuna Nigiri
5. Crunchy Pizza with Burrata and Olive Oil
6. Basil Air Waffle with Samosa Cheese and Pine Nuts
7. Alaskan King Crab Salad with Avocado, Romesco Sauce, Flying Fish Roe
8. Pizza Bread with Manchego Cheese and Yellow Caviar
9. Baguette Bread with Curated Marinated Beef
10. Nordic Landscape – Bread with Shallots, Beef Tartare, Marinated Beets, Powdered Vinegar, Fennel
11. White Asparagus with Mint, Cream, and Lemon
12. Oyster with Melon Juice and Pine Nuts
13. Mini Eel Ciabatta with Jelly and Coriander
14. Foie Gras with Dehydrated Corn, Shallots, Bread
15. Razor Clams with Umeboshi Sauce and Flower
16a. Octopus with Kimchi – best octopus I’ve ever eaten…
16b. Cucumber with Jelly
17. Secret “Spaghetti” with Porcini Mushrooms in Wine Sauce
After the savory courses were finished, our server came and informed us that dessert was served in another room, a secret room. Smiling from ear to ear, we entered a room that was truly spectacular – bright red fruits hung from the ceiling, scenes from Ratatouille were being shown on one wall, and the Spanish version of Hakuna Matata was playing overhead. It felt like we had entered an alternate universe consisting of a crossover between Alice in Wonderland and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Our new server then asked us if we had any room left for dessert and we both nodded our heads excitedly in response.
“How many desserts would you like?”
“How many desserts do you have?”
“Ten.”
“All of them.”
The Dessert Room
18. Raspberry and Lychee Bubble on Rose
19. Beet Root Cake with Yuzu and Beet Root Sorbet
20. Fresh Coconut Water with Lime Sorbet
21. Apple Tarte Tatin with White Chocolate Foam and Caramel
22. “Pancake” with Butter and Blueberry Jam
23. “Cheesecake” with Butter Cookies
25. Baklava with Cream Filling
26. White Chocolate with Cocoa Shot
27. “Eclair”
28. Olive Oil Chocolate Ice Cream with Bread
29. Mignardises
At the end of the night, we left Tickets with full stomachs and smiles on our faces. It’s rare to say this, especially about restaurants, but I truly felt that we had a fun time at Tickets. Not only was the food absolutely delicious, I truly felt that every course was meant to surprise and delight. For the quality of food and service, we felt that Tickets was very fairly priced and gave us a lot of value. Definitely the highlight of our entire trip!
If you’re traveling to Barcelona any time soon, make sure to pay Tickets a visit!
Longest receipt we’ve ever gotten!