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Image 1: The restaurant was connected to Tickets with a shared toilet area. On the night of our visit, Albert was at the door greeting every guest on arrival. They had a good collection of classic songs from many countries as background music which was in sync with the background theme casted out from the centre projector.
Image 4: Note that this restaurant will be transformed into the new restaurant Enigma in 2015.
The first establishment by the Adrià brothers since the closure of el Bulli was the Tickets - a restaurant with a ticket based booking system (i.e. prepaid when you book your time slot) where they served stylish tapas including some of the old classics from el Bulli.
Image 5: Everyone knew any restaurant from Ferran and Albert would turn out into a big hit and it proved to be the case because we failed to secure a reservation! All slots were immediately taken when the online booking opened the midnight two months ahead! However, realising their more intimate restaurant 41º still had one last slot left, we took it without hesitation. (Read on to find out how we got into Tickets at the end!)
Image 6: The restaurant name came from the latitude of Barcelona, 41º. The dining area was actually very small, a long bar counter and a few tables wrapped by a black leather top creating a mysterious ambience. Once we settled down, the food marathon began!
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A cocktail of gin, lime, and vermouth was served along with an edible flower as a palate cleanser.
Image 8: A thin layer of Kaffir lime jello on Kaffir lime leaf. The idea was to put the whole leaf into the mouth and pull it out while leaving the jello on the tongue!
Image 9: They instructed us to drink this nectar like a hummingbird!
Cocktail of orange and guava juice with cherry amaretto meringue.
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strawberry and almond
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Camouflaged among the pearls was a black sesame ball.
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Small disk of watermelon marinated in yuzu
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Octopus cracker and tuna with wasabi
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A set of shisha smoked tea cocktail
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Gillardeau oyster soaked in tigernut milk with tigernut underneath
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Two servings of Osetra caviar. First was a sweet and crunchy version with hazelnut.
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Then a savoury version encased in artichoke skin with artichoke cream.
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A cone of dried and fried mushroom filled with distilled mushroom broth inside!
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A modern version of Raffaello (the coconut version of Ferrero Rocher) using parmesan instead of coconut.
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A plate of "forest" contained four items - Hanging at the branch was a porcini mushroom leaf
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And at the background was a raspberry rested on a raspberry casing, a pistachio coated in pistachio cream, and a leaf of blackcurrant dusted with powder of berries.
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Rested on a bed of fried noodle was stuffed lily flower topped with pepperoni
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Hollow baguettes wrapped with Iberico ham! Yes, the baguette only has a surface without bread inside!
Image 24: Two servings of white asparagus. First, "Snail", which was actually white asparagus with asparagus and miso soup inside the shell.
Image 25: Second serving was a piece of asparagus shaped like a cross section of a bone topped with bone marrow cooked in pork stock.
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A modern version of the traditional Basque dish using just chicken and crayfish.
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"Nordic snow" with baby carrot coated in a thin beetroot jello…
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… and a thin beef cracker dusted with vinegar powder.
Image 29: A second serving of Bloody Mary sorbet was on a celery stick.
Image 30: A taste of Mexico served on a cactus. A piece of baby tuna filled with Bloody Mary sorbet and decored coriander stem.
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A crystal ball of Mexican cocktail using amber agave syrup.
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Taco garnished with prawn, herbs, and vegetable leaves.
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"Sushi" but using meringue instead of rice!
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Their version of a Peruvian cocktail pisco sour…
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… with ceviche on the side.
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Now onto Chinese. Peking duck in hoisin sauce but with bagel instead of pancake!
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A piece of cured beef on potato soufflé with drops of red wine sauce.
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They even brought us to Vietnam! A rice paper roll with fish sauce and bitter leaf. By far the worst item of the night!
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Finally finished the main section of the meal with a cute set of Vietnam style afternoon tea. Pork bun and mushroom consommé instead of tea.
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A parmesan macaron with raspberry mustard as the cheese course.
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Then a cube of sweet potato and kumquat garnished with olive oil pearls.
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A cone of quinoa maki with soy sauce ice cream
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Inside these black egg shells was a sweet egg sabayon
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Ice cream ball of berries
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Indian dessert - chai lassi
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Cream puff topped with raspberry
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Mango stuffed peach and cardamom foam
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Lemon pie cupcake
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"Ferrero Rocher"
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Last but not least, the 3-hour marathon concluded with a cute chocolate "trunk"!
Image 51: A copy of the menu was provided to us. Almost every item of the meal was delicious and we were very impressed with the complex execution each creation! However, we were still hungry so we asked the manager for the possibility of getting two seats at Tickets next door. Yes, hard to believe, although we failed to secure a reservation, we managed to get a table there last minute and we continued our dinner at Tickets after 40+ courses!
