Tickets!

The famous elBulli was a Michelin 3-star restaurant near the town of Roses, Catalonia, Spain, run by chef Ferran Adrià, and was described as “the most imaginative generator of haute cuisine on the planet.” The restaurant was also associated with molecular gastronomy. They received millions of reservation requests for the 8,000 annual dining spots. It closed in 2011 after being recognized as the finest restaurant on the planet for several years.

After a hiatus, the geniuses behind elBulli opened a restaurant in Barcelona called Tickets. And we managed to snag reservations back in October when the window for our date opened. This would be a splurge meal and we were excited about it.

We started our evening at Bodega 1900, a vermouth bar across the street from Tickets.

We were after a pre-dinner cocktail and Bodega 1900 is owned by the same gang as Tickets so we thought we’d give it a try. Plus vermouth bars are hot right now.

We were also persuaded to try some tapas, elBulli-style. First were the molecular olives. The look like olives and when you put one in your mouth they flood your tastes buds with olive flavor but they aren’t olives. Amazing.

The other stand-out tapa were the calamari dogs – pieces of calamari in a small bun shaped like a hot dog and sprinkled with mayonnaise and vermouth sauce. Delish.

Soon it was time for the main event at Tickets, so we crossed the street and were ushered in and to our table.

We quickly agreed with our waiter, Nadia, to put ourselves in her hands and let her surprise us. After hearing our likes/dislikes, the following is what she brought us:

First a round of molecular olives, called Charity Olives on the menu.

We ate them like shooters.

Next was the crostini with marinated white anchovies while Lisa skipped those and had a veg sushi on something that looked like rice but wasn’t.

The anchovies made our mouths water they were so good. Next was spicy tuna tartare on a potato and nori cube. Incredible.

Followed by basil waffles with scamorza cheese. Toasty and chewy and delicious.

These were followed by king crab ceviche with mayonnaise and romesco sauce.

Served in a crab shell. This was followed by mini “airbags” with cremed manchego cheese on the inside and a tiny slice on the top.

Next up were the air baguettes with wagyu jerky. They looked like baguettes and tasted like them but were hollow.

Jeff skipped this in favor of of a tortilla chip with sliced scallop and parmesan cheese.

These were followed by the “Nordic Landscape” which were marinated and smoked tenderloin (mushroom for Jeffrey) with vinegar powder sprinkled over the top.

After these we moved on to oysters Korean-style, where the normal oyster brine was replaced with a kimchi sauce and a wild strawberry. Truly divine.

While Lisa had the marinated and smoked mackerel with yellow kimchi and persimmon gelatin.

Then we had the crunchy octopus with kimchi mayonnaise and pickles.

While Lisa had a suckling pig taco with humebashi mayonnaise.

Then we had foie gras with smoked eel.

Next up was the mushroom spaghetti. No, not spaghetti with mushrooms, but spaghetti made from mushrooms and served with portobella “pil pil” which was like a broth. Quite a feat.

Our last course was a split. Jeffrey had a roasted Bresse quail stuffed with eggplant

While Lisa and I had grilled lobster in an “oriental” broth.

It was an insane meal. But wait, there’s more! Instead of having dessert at our table, we were ushered through a secret door into a separate dessert room that was dressed as though you were inside a child’s dessert imagination.

And it’s here that the meal continued. First with pistachio cream air bags. A modern take on baklava.

Next were the sweet corn spongecake that you dipped in a sweet corn cream.

And then the special chocolate cakes made to look like Tickets wine corks.

And then finally we had the little Tickets ice cream cart come and make ice cream tableside. The look on Lisa’s face tells you all you need to know about that moment.

An unbelievable meal overall that ran three hours from start to finish. Fantastic and well worth the wait!