Tickets Restaurant

We didn’t set an alarm, and had a luxurious sleep in. When we did finally get up, we saw that it was pouring rain, so we decided to take a cab to breakfast.

We went to the cutest little place called Brunch & Cake. There was a huge line when we got there – good thing we had our umbrellas!

 

After about 35 minutes standing in the rain, we were seated at a table in the window.

 

The fresh squeezed OJ was amazing, as was the chocolatey coffee.

I got avocado toast with fruit, and Cobi got fried eggs benedict. Both were good, but it seems like presentation was more important than the food itself. Mine was really hard to eat, but I still enjoyed it!

After breakfast, we went back out in the rain to wander around. I was pretty cold, so I stopped at Zara to pick up a warm hat.

 

We walked over to the Mercat de la Boqueria, and walked through all the stalls.

 

Everything looked and smelled amazing.

 

Especially this pile of candy…

 

The main reason for our visit to the market was to get an ice cream treat from Puerto Latino. There were fruity popsicles, ice cream sandwiches and tons of flavours of gelato.

 

We couldn’t decide. The Banana Caramel and Cookie Butter looked particularly tasty.

 

As did the Snickers.

 

We decided to get a mixture of all the best flavours. Banana Caramel and Snickers for me, with Salted Caramel and Cookie Butter for Cobi. So delicious.

 

We kept walking around the Gothic Quarter, doing our best to stay dry. We came across the Basílica Santa Maria del Mar, and decided to check it out. We’d missed the English guided tour, and did a self-guided tour instead.

 

It was enormous, and very impressive.

 

Regardless of the size, the staircases are always small and narrow.

 

They reminded me of the staircase we had to climb to our hotel room in Luxembourg!

 

Enormous church, tiny doorways.

 

We walked past the Museu Picasso… but the line was insane.

Walking past a museum is the same as going in, right?

 

We walked to the Arc de Triomf, and were too tired to walk the rest of the way home so we jumped in a cab back to the hotel.

 

We put on our plush robes and slippers, and went down to the spa.

 

Photo courtesy of https://heavenbydeborahmitchell.me/2016/07/06/when-i-was-14/abac-spa/

We alternated between the hot tub, pool, sauna and steam room. It was the perfect way to spend a rainy afternoon.

After we had sufficiently relaxed, we went back to our room to get ready for dinner.

 

Dinner tonight was at Tickets, a one Michelin star restaurant. Again I knew little to nothing about the restaurant prior to arriving, but I did know it was going to be a bit more fun than the other places we’d gone to!

 

The vibe was old-school Circus. I loved it.

 

Definitely the most fun and playful place we’ve been yet.

There were two options for the dinner – either choose dishes a la carte, or have the restaurant choose for you. We decided to go with the latter, and see what they presented us with!

 

First up was one of their specialties – Spherified Liquid Olives. If you’ve watched Albert Adrià’s episode of Chef’s Table, you’ll have seen this dish. It was served alongside mackerel with prosciutto, and a delicious tomato-y bread.

 

We also ordered some cocktails. I can’t for the life of me remember what they were, but they were both sweet and very delicious.

 

This was one of my favourites – Squid Sashimi. I’m usually not a big squid person, but the texture and flavour of raw squid is unbelievable. We had it again later in the trip, definitely a new favourite.

 

This was a wafer with very thinly sliced porcini mushrooms. I’m also not usually a mushroom person (again because of the texture), but this was amazing.

 

Sea Urchin on crispy potatoes. This was not my favourite. Too mineral-y, tasted like an aquarium.

 

Next up was Tuna Two Ways. The first was tuna tartare with nori crackers, and the second was tuna belly on an air puff cracker. Both so good.

 

This next dish was another first for me. Razor Clams and Barnacles, with some sort of jelly for dipping. I had no idea how to eat them, but luckily we were given instructions.

 

The lighter bits were the razor clams, and the darker bits on the ends were barnacles. Both were incredible, it was such an interesting dish.

 

These were “prosciutto” crackers with cured beef. Simple and delicious.

 

Next was tomato and burrata. Again, very simple but really good.

 

These were oysters with some sort of sauce – can’t quite remember what the sauce was, but it was lovely and fresh! Poor Cobi had a cold and had lost a majority of his sense of taste, so he also has no idea what this was.

 

This dish was another of my favourites – Mussels in a green curry sauce. Loved them so much, I could have eaten a ton more!

 

This one looked like Christmas. Beef with pickled onions and cheese on top of crackers, dusted with powdered vinegar, We were asked to try the powder and guess what it was. We couldn’t put our finger on it, but once we were told it made total sense!

 

This was a very cool dish, called Squid Risotto in two parts. First we were instructed to eat the squid, without drinking the liquid.

 

Then, they spooned Zucchini Seeds (the ‘risotto’), into the broth. The Zucchini seeds had such an interesting texture, but I’m sure harvesting them would be a nightmare. I’m thinking we’ll try it once, just to see…

 

Next up was Marrow Bone in two parts. The first part was potato stuffed with beef marrow.

 

The second was bone filled with eggplant “marrow”. This one was really good. I don’t usually like marrow, but I definitely like Eggplant “Marrow”!

 

The penultimate dinner dish was a little ham & cheese sandwich. Ham, cheese and mustard baked into a bun, served with mole dipping sauce. Cobi absolutely loved this one, but I was starting to get really full and didn’t finish mine.

 

Last was king crab leg with pickled lettuce, potato puffs and butter foam. It was so sweet, it was unbelievable. Great end to the meal!

After we finished the crab, we were presented with a a box that held tickets for dessert. We were then taken into another room that looked like a scene from Willy Wonka.

 

The ceiling was covered in hanging raspberries, blackberries, blueberries and candy canes.

 

As well as flowers, greenery and strawberries!

 

We were seated at the bar, and I couldn’t wait to see what dessert was going to be like.

 

First we were presented with Spherified Lychee on the top of a rose.

 

We were instructed to ‘kiss the rose’ to enjoy the lychee.

 

Next was a Blueberry Pie. The little spheres were freeze dried and the crust was made of ice cream, and the whole thing was filled with cream. It was so good.

 

This was so not my thing, but Cobi absolutely loved it. It was a wheel of cheese served with little cookies. The rind of the cheese was made of chocolate and hazelnut, and the inside was a brie cream. Too savoury for me, but it was still very cool.

 

This one was my favourite. Stroopwafel ice cream sandwich filled with a thick caramel sauce. It was unbelievable, I wanted another.

 

Next was a flower made of chocolate, coconut milk, with a hint of passionfruit and mint. So delicate, really lovely.

 

Last was a chocolate, ice cream and passionfruit cake. So good.

 

We watched the bartender make a crazy cocktail in a bag on a swing, and we needed to try it for ourselves. It was an interesting take on a Pina Colada, not dissimilar to the cocktail we had at StreetXO.

 

We paid our bill and were served with fruit-filled After Eights.

What an incredible meal! Such a fun experience, and the Squid Sashimi, Razor Clam & Barnacles, Green Curry Mussels and Ice Cream Stroopwafel were over the top delicious. Definitely a highlight of the trip.

It was still raining when we left, so we cabbed back to the hotel and went right to sleep. Not a bad day!!