David K.
Yelp
Tickets is a show--walking in to this bustling restaurant means walking into a vibrant, old-time movie theater with flashy lights and bright colors! Everyone welcomes you left and right as you approach your seat. Getting a reservation here is quite the challenge--the current system forces you to jump on the website at the stroke of midnight, filling out the form literally within seconds. However, we scored a seat at the bar during our visit to Barcelona, and Tickets was quite the experience! We had a direct view of the open kitchen and the army of staff meticulously preparing the detailed dishes.
The entire menu consists of tapas, which are generally portions of a bite or two, though one or two dishes are meant to be shared. You can order a la carte, or have the staff decide everything you eat! We went for the a la carte option and tried a bunch of creative things--most of which, admittedly, were not particularly memorable (so I won't bother mentioning them all), but some were quite incredible and others even told a little story.
We started with the "olives"--doesn't sound very fancy, except that these little green balls filled with liquid were only made to look like olives--once you put them on your tongue and pressed them on the roof of the mouth, they exploded with a bright, olive, citrusy flavor! We moved on to the thin bread with tomato (a not particularly creative take on the classic Catalan dish) and the thin, crispy sandwich of jamon and panceta. We had the "airbaguette," a hollow, crunchy roll wrapped with what looked like more ham, but was actually a cured beef called "rubia gallega". The crab ravioli was decorated with a checkerboard pattern of avocado and zucchini, and the charcoal eel had char-marks reading "TICKETS" on the skin! The grilled sea cucumber was served with its deep-fried skin on the side, and the "noodles" served with chanterelles, gorgonzola, and hazelnut praline were actually made of thin, narrow strips of king trumpet mushroom!
All of the small bites were creative in their own way, and I really enjoyed how our servers carefully described each one to us--sometimes even making us guess what ingredients we were eating, since they had been prepared in unrecognizable ways! Overall, however, my favorite dishes were actually the larger portions that were meant to be shared. First, we had the crispy octopus, which was a sliced octopus tentacle dressed with a kimchi mayonnaise and served with pickles on the side. Though sliced, the octopus tentacle was put back together in its original shape and served on a transparent box over sand, a seashell, and other beach-themed decorations! The octopus was tender and delicious with a deep, seafood flavor and a spicy kick from the mayo. We also had the roasted, stuffed quail, which was brought out whole (with its head) and served/sliced tableside. The quail was cooked to a perfect medium and was stuffed with eggplant and two quail eggs inside!
After we announced that we were ready to move on to dessert, our server suddenly led us from our seats into a back room, which was decorated with strawberries and candy canes hanging from the ceiling, and with scenes from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory playing on a mosaic of screens on the wall. The entire room (which smelled like raspberries) was dedicated to dessert, and we started with an off-menu frozen dessert made of pumpkin, served with pumpkin seeds in a small, hollowed-out pumpkin. We also had the corn dessert, which consisted of a corn-shaped sponge cake meant to be dipped into a custard-like cream containing tons of corn flavor and crispies. The flavor and texture of this dessert was incredible--not too sweet, and a great combination of soft, sticky, and crunchy!
Tickets was an incredible experience--to be in the middle of all the action and see all of the choreography that goes behind the preparation of small, precise, unique bites of food was unforgettable! Because you can control the amount you order, it also doesn't have to be a particularly expensive visit--this is just a great chance to enjoy passionate, friendly hospitality and food that you'll find nowhere else in the world!
