jducoeur | Teatro

This week is Kate's and my tenth anniversary, which are are spending in Barcelona -- a famously foodie city for a decidedly foodie couple. (We're taking two weeks in Spain, which is why this entry is initially locked, on the usual theory of "Don't tell the world that you're out of town". We did four nights in Madrid, then three in Valencia, and are finishing off with five in Barcelona, leaving the day after our anniversary.)

Tonight's dinner was Teatro, and while tonight isn't technically our anniversary, I'm content to call it our anniversary dinner, because that was just plain spectacular -- maybe one of the five best restaurants we've been to. I gather that it is the sequel to the similar (and famed) restaurant Tickets, which shut down due to the pandemic, and it's a worthy successor.

The gimmick of the place is that everything is a show. It's not that you watch a kitchen, it's that there are seven kitchens, and every seat faces one of them. We don't go to restaurants for their gimmicks, but it did make it fun.

More importantly, the food quality and service were both absolutely top-notch: excellent and quietly attentive respectively. (The definition of really great service is that you never really need to ask for anything -- someone just shows up next to you before you realize you need it.)

Most important, the menu is ferociously innovative, and pretty much everything works: clever and unusual combinations, with carefully-balanced flavors. For example, perhaps my favorite was the Eel and Fois Gras, both chopped into small cubelets, mixed with an excellent eel sauce, and served in somehow-hardened little vessels of sushi seaweed.

We went with the "surprise" menu, basically Chef's Choice -- a quick interview about allergies and dislikes, and then they just start shoving dishes at you at high speed. All were smallish (the only dish of any real size was the lamb tacos, near the end -- two small tacos each, with North African-spiced lamb, tiny bits of cauliflower, a red onion "pico" and a raita-like topping); most dishes were one bite. So it added up slowly, but we were well north of a dozen dishes (ETA: reviewing the receipt, we did 15 courses) before we declared defeat and told them to stop.

It's pricey, of course, but given the amount of food (and booze -- the cocktail menu is every bit as innovative and well-balanced as the food) it was entirely reasonable for a high-end restaurant, about the same as we were used to paying at Tasting Counter.

So anyway -- if you find yourself in Barcelona, and you like high-end food, do it. This one is best-of-the-best...

Teatro

no subject