Istanbul
IstanbulFlash 90

In a bizarre case of dining and dashing, a local woman in Istanbul ordered 35 Syrian refugee children lunch before disappearing from the restaurant without paying, the Hurriyet Daily News has reported. 

The woman apparently gathered together the children as they were begging for food and money in the early afternoon on Friday near the iconic Taksim square in Turkey's largest city. 

She brought them to a nearby restaurant, ordering doner kebabs and cups of ayran - a Turkish drink consisting of yoghurt mixed with water - for all 35 children.

As the children imbibed, the woman told waiters she needed to go to a nearby exchange office to convert 200 euros into Turkish Liras. 

The restaurant's owner, Cengiz Aydoğan, said he waited for hours for the woman to come back with the cash, but she never returned. 

“The bill, including 10 beef döner kebabs and 25 chicken döner kebabs, was 275 Turkish Liras ($94). The woman said she would return after converting her 200 euros but she didn’t,” Aydoğan told private news agency Cihan.