The filling station

Hala is a small eating house in a dingy backstreet, off Istiklan Boulevard. Its name translates as "aunty". At a pinch, it can pack in 30 customers, sitting at narrow banquettes and round stools. The upholstery is based on kilim patterns and there are more rugs hanging from the walls. Open seven days a week, from lunch until late, it serves upwards of 400 covers a day.

The crowds come to sample the restaurant's main-course speciality, prepared to order by two skilled cooks. Dressed in headscarves, they sit on their haunches on a small stage beside two round gas-fired griddles, known as saá (pronounced "sach"). One stretches sheets of flat bread over her forearms till they are well over a foot in diameter. The other rolls the dough out almost as finely, fills it with meat, potato, spinach or cheese, folds it, slaps it on to the griddle, flips it over and dishes it up - crusty and hot.

Called gözleme, these pastries come from the villages of southern Anatolia, though the leavened bread from which they are made is closer to the kind eaten in Persia and Afghanistan. To Turks they represent snack food and, at 45p each, are outstanding value for money. However, even a meal of soup, main courses, plus tea or a soft drink at Hala will set the customer back little more than £1.

Dundar Engin, who used to be the assistant head waiter at the Istanbul Sheraton, devised the Hala theme. He employs five cooks working in rotation - two on, two off, and one in the kitchen preparing the soups and manti (stuffed pasta), which arehis other speciality. Margins, he claims, are very tight. He makes little more than 10% profit on each bill, but the volume of trade keeps his business buoyant.

Although the fillings for Hala's gözleme are simple, rustic and inexpensive, their style could open the door to endless variations, especially for chefs who are wedded to cross-over cooking. Providing that a kitchen had a large, flat griddle, it would be simple to make the delicious flat bread in dimensions that didn't involve tossing a pancake-like bread dough over hairy arms.

At Hala, most of the gözleme and bread is made to order, but the two cooks start each session with enough ready-made portions to keep them ahead of the game. These can be rapidly reheated without affecting their taste or texture.

Hala, Büyükparmakkapi Çukurlu Çesme Sok No 26, Beyoğlu, Istanbul.

Tel: 00 90 212 293 7531