When Albert Adrià closed his legendary El Bulli ( where I had a chance to dine in 2010 ) everyone was guessing what he and his brother Ferran were going to do next. Their answer – a tapas bar called Tickets (Avinguda Parallel, 164 08015 Barcelona, Spain; tel.+34 932 92 42 53), opened in 2011 at the same place where Inopia used to be. Judging from its quirky interior and fun ambiance, Tickets is more of an “every day” place than El Bulli, but that doesn’t mean that it’s easier to book it or the food is less interesting. If you have never been able to get into El Bulli, Tickets is your chance to taste the famous spherical olives you can order here à la carte. However, they are just about the only dish (together with “liquid ravioli with Payoyo cheese” ) that is holding Tickets onto its founders’ molecular past. Let’s say, if El Bulli was “haute couture” of fine dining, Tickets is “prêt à porter”. Kind of a Catalan version of L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon.
