Baltimore, Co Cork P81 K291
★ 9.5/10

When writing restaurant reviews we try to distance ourselves from what the chef or restaurateur might think of our words when they read them. Ditto the manager, sommelier or anyone else on staff.

We arrive without expectation. We eat, pay in full and leave, just like any other customer. Reviews need not pay lip service because critics don’t owe anything to a restaurant or chef in return. What we do owe is to the readers, so every time we begin with a blank screen in recounting a restaurant experience; for better or worse, it’s with readers in mind we write, not chefs.

The tiny kitchen has a brigade of Turkish talent including the head chef Ali Siyar, right, and the sous chef Dogukan Toraman

ALISON MILES/OSM PHOTO

So here’s where this review will start: why should you, reader, make your way to the